THE  HERESY 
OF  CAIN 


GEORGE  HODGES 


GIFT  OF 


/^JLa       C^^f^A^^^^-^^-*-'^^    . 


THE   HERESY   OF  CAIN 


Classbook  of  Old  Testament  History 

Everyman's  Religion 

Christianity  Between  Sundays 

The  Heresy  of  Cain 

The  Battles  of  Peace 

The  Human  Nature  of  the  Saints 

The  Path  of  Life 

In  This  Present  World 

The  Year  of  Grace  (2  Vols.) 


The  Cross  and  Passion 
Faith  and  Social  Service 


THE  HERESY  OF  CAIN 


BY 


GEORGE   HODGES 

DEAN   OF    THE   EPISCOPAL    THEOLOGICAL  SCHOOL 
CAMBRIDGE,    MASS. 


NEW  REVISED  EDITION 


haufi  iiUuKStO  \B 


t 


a '91 


THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

Alhrigbis  teseHfed 


H-(^ 


Copyright,  1894, 

Bt  the  macmillan  company. 

Reprinted  1914. 


.J 


^K, 


CONTENTS. 


The  New  Philanthropy 9 

To  HELP  THE  Poor 29 

The  Gospel  and  Poverty 47 

The  Church  and  the  Labor  Movement   ...  58 

Business  and  Keligion 18 

The  Gospel  of  the  Kingdom 90 

The  Christian  Family 103 

Saints  in  Society  .    , 117 

Ethics  of  the  Parish 132 

The  Church  at  Work 146 

Eleven  Laymen 159 

Our  Duty  to  C^sar 171 

War  and  Politics 183 

The  Christian  in  the  City 193 

New  Quests  for  New  Knights 205 

The  Failure  of  the  Pharisee 217 

Disposition  and  Duty 230 

Foreign  Missions 242 

The  Cattle  of  Nineveh 256 

The  Power  of  Persuasion 269 

The  Man  with  the  Measuring  Line    ....  280 


THE   NEW  PHILANTHROPY. 


"  Jesus  took  him  by  the  hand  and  lifted  him  up ;  and  he 
arose."  —  St.  Ma&k  ix.  27. 


There  he  lay  upon  the  ground,  the  victim 
of  the  devil.  What  could  be  done  with  him  ? 
All  remedies  had  failed.  The  physicians  had 
prescribed  for  him;  the  apostles  had  prayed 
for  him,  —  but  to  no  purpose.  Then  came  the 
Master,  holding  out  his  friendly  hand ;  and  he 
arose. 

It  is  a  parable  touching  our  own  problems. 
What  to  do  with  the  man  who  is  down  —  who 
can  tell  us?  We  stand  about,  as  they  stood 
that  morning  at  the  foot  of  the  Transfiguration 
Hill,  curious,  sympathetic,  desirous  to  help ; 
some  with  theories,  some  with  medicines,  some 
with  prayers.  In  the  midst  is  the  possessed  of 
the  devil.  And  the  devil  continues  to  possess 
him.  What  shall  we  do?  We  must  give  him 
our  fraternal  hand. 

The  new  philanthropy  is  older  than  the 
church.     It  began  with   the  beginning  of  the 

9 


10l*"%  :  :•* ;  ,'i?ijB-*  nkw.-.pth^la'nthropy. 

ministry  of  Jesus  Christ.  All  that  is  new 
about  it  is  the  application  of  his  teaching  and 
example  to  our  present  needs.  It  is  not  easy 
to  practise,  but  the  preaching  of  it  is  simple 
enough.  One  does  not  need  to  be  deeply 
versed  in  political  economy  to  be  able  to  under- 
stand it.  Friendship  is  the  heart  of  it.  The 
symbol  is  the  extended  hand. 

One  characteristic  of  the  new  philanthropy 
is  the  definition  which  it  gives  to  the  word 
"  betterment." 

For  a  long  time  the  concern  of  the  church 
in  the  progress  of  mankind  was  thought  to  be 
only  with  the  soul.  It  was  of  great  interest 
to  the  church  that  men  should  be  helped  spirit- 
ually. They  must  be  converted ;  they  must 
be  led  to  believe  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and  to  confess  that  faith  openly  before  men; 
they  must  be  drawn  into  the  allegiance  of  the 
church  ;  they  must  be  taught  to  pray ;  their 
feet  must  be  set  in  the  road  that  leads  to 
heaven.  It  was  forgotten  that  man  is  not  all 
soul. 

The  consequence  was  that  a  false  distinction 
was  set  up  between  the  sacred  and  the  secular. 
The  church  set  much  more  emphasis  upon  the 
behavior  of  men  on  Sunday  than  upon  their 


THE  NEW  PflILANtEtRO:Pir.  11 

conduct  between  Sundays.  A  thousand  mis- 
leading conventionalities  confused  the  vision 
of  Christian  thinkers. 

Faith,  for  example,  was  given  an  ecclesiasti- 
cal definition,  and  was  made  synonymous  with 
theology.  The  true  believer  was  he  who  as- 
sented to  the  pronouncements  of  the  theological 
doctors.  Faith  was  set  apart  from  reason ;  be- 
lieving was  made  a  substitute  for  thinking. 
Still  wider  was  the  distance  between  creed  and 
character.  No  man's  sense  of  religion  was 
affronted  by  the  account  given  of  the  French 
cardinal,  who  was  declared  to  be  mean,  cruel, 
avaricious,  and  dishonorable,  but  very  religious ! 
Benvenuto  Cellini  broke  all  the  commandments, 
but  attended  the  services  of  the  church  with 
regularity  and  devotion,  and  believed  that  his 
steps  were  guarded  by  the  blessed  angels.  An 
honest,  pure-hearted.  God-fearing  heretic,  no 
matter  how  upright  his  life,  would  go  to  hell. 
But  a  loyal  son  of  the  true  church,  who  recited 
the  creed  and  knelt  at  the  sacrament,  might 
live  most  basely,  and  yet  have  place  hereafter 
with  patriarchs  and  saints  among  the  saved. 
Faith  was  shown  not  by  works  but  by  words. 

Inspiration  had  reference,  men  imagined, 
only  to  the  composition  of  the   books  of  the 


12  tflE  NEW  PHILANTHROPY. 

Old  and  New  Testaments.  The  Holy  Spirit 
ceased  to  speak  when  the  last  apostle  died. 
Isaiah  was  helped  to  write  his  sermons  by  the 
dictation  of  the  Lord  God  Almighty;  but 
Chrysostom  and  Augustine,  Francis  and  Ber- 
nard, had  to  get  along  by  themselves  as  best 
they  might.  The  men  who  wrote  the  Hebrew 
Psalms  heard  the  melodies  of  heaven ;  but  the 
writers  of  the  Christian  hymns  looked  into 
the  silent  sky.  A  very  different  conception 
from  that  of  the  good  people  of  the  elder  time, 
who  held  that  even  the  architects  of  the  new 
church  which  was  built  in  the  wilderness  were 
inspired  of  God.  Different,  too,  from  the  be- 
lief of  the  apostles  and  brethren  who  met  in 
convention  at  Jerusalem,  and  claimed  that  the 
Holy  Ghost  was  with  them  as  he  had  been  with 
their  fathers.  The  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac, 
and  Jacob  was  the  God  of  Peter,  James,  and 
John,  they  held.  They  set  no  narrow  limits 
to  God's  assisting  benediction. 

By  the  same  mistaken  interpretation  a  pic- 
ture, if  it  had  a  religious  name  written  on  the 
frame,  was  accounted  to  be  sacred.  If  there 
were  some  other  name,  the  picture  was  held  to 
belong  to  the  secular  side  of  art.  If  the  artist 
painted  a  mother  and  a  child,   and  set  hales 


THE  NEW   PHILANTHROPY.  IS 

about  their  heads,  the  painting  belonged  to  re- 
ligion ;  take  away  the  halos,  and  it  belonged  to 
the  world,  the  flesh,  or  the  devil.  Music  which 
was  set  to  the  words  of  Holy  Scripture  was 
considered  to  be  sacred  music ;  poems  of  patriot- 
ism, sung  in  time  to  the  tramp  of  marching 
armies,  were  outside  the  province  of  the  church. 
To  build  a  cathedral  was  to  do  a  service  to 
religion:  as  much  could  not  be  said  regarding 
the  erection  of  a  block  of  model  tenements. 
To  be  a  vestryman  in  a  parish  was  to  hold  a 
religious  position :  it  was  quite  a  different 
thing  to  be  a  councilman  in  a  city.  The  affairs 
of  the  church  were  considered  in  religious  con- 
ventions ;  that  good  adjective  was  not  given  to 
the  assemblies  which  discussed  the  needs  of  the 
state.  St.  Philip  and  St.  James  were  honored 
by  a  day  of  commemoration;  but  it  was  not 
customary  to  celebrate  with  religious  services 
the  birthday  of  Washington,  and  the  heroes  of 
the  Civil  War  were  better  remembered  by  the 
state  than  by  the  church. 

This  distinction  ran  between  great  spaces  of 
human  life,  dividing  it  right  and  left  into  the 
sacred  and  the  secular.  The  province  of  re- 
ligion was  narrowed.  The  church  attended  to 
certain  phases  of  the  affairs  of  men,  and  stopped 


14  THE  NfiW  PHILANTHROPY. 

there,  saying  little  about  what  lay  beyond,  ac- 
counting that  to  be  none  of  its  business.  "  To 
make  men  better  "  was  a  phrase  having  but  a 
limited  meaning,  applied  almost  entirely  to  the 
direct  concerns  of  the  soul. 

But  when  Jesus  was  here  he  was  interested 
in  all  that  entered  into  the  life  of  man.  He 
cared  for  the  soul,  but  not  for  the  soul  only. 
He  desired  to  save  men  —  body,  mind,  and  soul. 
It  was  his  wish  and  his  purpose  that  men  and 
women  should  be  happy  here  and  now,  without 
waiting  till  they  go  to  heaven.  He  attended  a 
wedding-feast,  and  contributed  to  the  enjoyment 
of  the  guests,  without  holding  a  prayer-meeting 
or  preaching  a  sermon.  He  came  down  from 
the  mountain  of  the  Transfiguration,  and  found 
a  lad  possessed  of  the  devil,  and  straightway 
healed  him.  The  sight  of  sickness  moved  him 
to  compassion.  He  did  not  account  it  a  matter 
of  small  moment  that  people  should  be  hungry. 
He  was  stirred  to  sympathy  by  the  privations 
of  the  poor.  He  made  himself  the  enemy  of 
disease  and  death,  of  avarice  and  selfishness,  of 
poverty  and  ignorance,  as  he  was  the  enemy 
of  sin.  To  him,  all  life  was  of  concern,  and  all 
that  had  to  do  with  the  best  living  of  it  came 
within  his  province. 


THE  NEW   PHILANTHROPY.  15 

That  is  the  spirit  of  the  new  attitude  of 
Christian  men  toward  human  needs.  It  is  being 
understood  now  that  the  church  of  Jesus  Christ 
is  meant  to  touch  the  whole  circumference  of 
society,  and  to  deal  with  every  day  and  every 
place.  Jesus  came  to  make  men  better,  and 
sent  his  disciples  to  make  men  better  in  every 
kind  of  way.  The  Christian  intention  is  that 
every  human  being  shall  have  a  chance,  and 
every  kind  of  chance.  The  purpose  of  the 
Christian  religion  is  to  uplift  all  life ;  to  make 
good  citizens,  wise  statesmen,  unselfish  poli- 
ticians, honest  lawyers,  conscientious  doctors, 
just  judges,  prudent  housekeepers,  industrious 
mechanics,  scrupulous  salesmen,  public-spirited 
capitalists,  fraternal  employers,  high-minded  re- 
porters and  editors,  intelligent  school-teachers, 
genuine  Christians,  who  will  not  lie  nor  steal 
nor  abuse  their  neighbors,  nor  do  any  mean, 
false  thing.  And  Christianity  is  interested  in 
everything  which  is  meant  to  make  earth  more 
like  heaven,  —  in  the  progress  of  education  and 
its  universal  extension ;  in  the  improvement  of 
machinery;  in  the  discoveries  of  the  men  of 
science ;  in  the  researches  of  the  scholars ;  in 
political  reform  and  social  betterment;  in  the 
houses  that  men  and  women  live  in,   and  the 


16  THE  NEW  PHILANTHROPY. 

clothes  they  wear,  and  the  dinners  they  eat, 
and  the  wages  they  get,  and  the  amount  of 
pleasure  and  of  opportunity  that  enters  into 
their  lives. 

Jesus  comes  down  from  the  green  hill  where 
he  has  been  praying  and  conversing  in  the 
clouds  with  Moses  and  Elijah,  gloriously  trans- 
figured ;  and  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  lies  a  sick 
child,  and  he  takes  him  by  the  hand  and  raises 
him  up.  The  Lord  never  meant  that  the  church 
should  abide  forever  on  the  heights  of  celestial 
vision,  communing  with  the  saints  and  fathers, 
delighting  in  devotion.  The  church,  like  her 
Master,  must  come  down,  with  helping  hand 
extended,  into  the  midst  of  the  sufferings  and 
sins  at  the  foot  of  the  hill.  True  it  is  that 
prayer  is  good,  and  meditation  is  sweet,  and 
the  reading  of  old  books  is  pleasant,  and  fine 
it  is  to  stand  upon  the  summits  of  the  moun- 
tains. But  work,  too,  is  good;  and  brother- 
hood is  at  the  heart  of  all  that  is  highest. 
Privilege,  unless  it  flowers  and  fruits  into  fra- 
ternal ministry,  is  barren  and  unlovely.  We 
are  set  here  side  by  side  that  we  may  help 
each  other. 

Another  characteristic  of  the  new  philan- 
thropy is  its  purpose  not  only  to  make  men 


THE   NEW   PHILANTHROPY.  17 

better,  but  to  keep  them  in  that  good  condi- 
tion. It  would  help  men  in  such  wise  fashion 
that  they  may  thenceforth  help  themselves. 
It  is  not  satisfied  to  go  on  ministering  year 
after  year  to  the  same  needs  of  the  same 
people. 

It  was  formerly  taken  for  granted  that  pov- 
erty is  one  of  the  necessary  evils ;  that  God  him- 
self has  made  some  rich  and  others  poor,  and 
that  it  is  the  divine  desire  that  these  two  classes 
shall  continue  side  by  side  forever.  It  was 
thought  that  the  poor  will  gratefully  receive, 
and  the  rich  will  generously  give,  to  all  eter- 
nity. Master  and  man,  mistress  and  maid, 
were  taken  to  be  unalterable  divisions  of  human 
society.  And,  no  doubt,  there  will  be  unequal- 
ities  in  the  society  even  of  heaven.  It  is  not 
likely  that  a  monotonous  level  will  character- 
ize the  new  Jerusalem.  There  will  still  be 
wise  and  unwise,  rich  and  poor,  and  some  will 
be  better  saints  than  others  in  that  blessed 
country  —  unless  human  nature  very  widely 
changes.  The  penitent  thief  and  the  beloved 
disciple  will  not  be  precisely  alike.  But  the 
inequalities  of  heaven  will  differ  from  the  in- 
equalities with  which  good  people  were  for- 
merly quite  contented  here  below  in  this  respect; 


18  THE  NEW   PHILANTHROPY. 

that  up  above  there  will  be  constant  growth,  un- 
ending betterment,  the  poor  growing  richer  in 
spiritual  wealth,  and  the  saints  delighting  to 
have  it  so. 

The  diminishing  intellectual  distance  between 
the  parent  and  the  child  may  serve  as  an  illus- 
tration. Year  by  year,  as  the  child  grows,  ob- 
serves, learns,  enters  into  the  experiences  of 
life,  the  small  circle  of  sympathy  and  common 
interests  widens  out,  until  it  touches  the  larger 
circle  of  the  elder  life.  That  is  what  comes  by 
growing. 

But  the  old  idea  was  that  those  who  stood  in 
the  larger  family  of  the  town  or  of  the  State 
where  the  children  stand  in  the  household, 
should  continue  there,  children  forever,  always 
dependent  upon  the  beneficence  of  others. 
They  who  ministered  to  the  poor  did  so  with- 
out much  notion  of  doing  more  than  to  re- 
lieve the  distress  of  the  moment.  They  cheer- 
fully expected  to  have  the  same  kind  ofl&ces 
to  do  over  again  upon  the  morrow,  and  were 
quite  satisfied  with  that  expectation.  The 
monks,  for  instance,  gave  their  daily  dole  of 
bread  at  the  monastery  gate;  and  the  same 
people  came  day  after  day  to  get  it.  The 
land  was  full   of    sturdy  beggars  who  lived 


itia  JNKW    rmi/ANTHROPY.  19 

upon  the  alms  of  the  charitable.  That  there 
was  anything  more  to  do  than  to  appease  the 
desires  of  hunger  was  scarcely  thought  of. 
That  hunger  was  an  indication  of  wrong  condi- 
tions in  society,  which  ought  to  be  righted 
that  man  might  no  more  go  hungry  —  this 
idea  entered  but  dimly  into  the  almsgiving  of 
the  past.  The  philanthropy  of  the  kitchen 
door  prevailed  in  Christendom.  The  result 
was  that  philanthropy  was  an  excellent  thing 
for  the  philanthropists.  It  developed  and  cul- 
tivated kindly  feelings  in  their  hearts.  But  it 
pauperized  the  poor.  It  touched  only  the  sur- 
face of  poverty.  The  good  that  it  did  was  not 
of  much  importance.  The  ills  that  it  encour- 
aged counterbalanced  many  of  its  benefits. 

That  is  but  a  poisoned  blessing  which  makes 
it  possible  to  get  money  without  honest  labor. 
It  is  a  matter  of  history  that  the  gold-mines  of 
Peru  wrecked  the  fortunes  of  Spain.  Men 
abandoned  their  small  farms  and  their  suffi- 
cient, steady  earnings  to  become  adventurers. 
The  character  of  the  whole  nation  was  weak- 
ened. The  old  almsgiving  had  a  similar  effect. 
Wherever  it  still  survives,  as  it  does  in  the 
kind  hearts  of  thousands  of  unwise  people,  it 
serves  but  to  complicate  the  problems  of  poV' 


20  THE   NEW   PHILANTHROPY. 

erty  and  to  postpone  their  solution.  It  is  as 
if  the  physician  should  content  himself  with 
giving  the  patient  anodynes  and  tonics,  bring, 
ing  temporary  release  from  pain,  while  mean- 
time the  disease,  unchecked,  untouched,  and 
unthought  of,  is  going  on  in  the  patient's  body. 

What  is  the  matter  with  the  man  ?  That  is 
what  the  good  physician  wants  to  know.  What 
is  the  matter  with  society  ?  That  is  what  the 
new  philanthropy  desires  to  learn.  We  are 
trying  to-day  to  find  out  what  wrong  conditions 
conspire  to  keep  men  poor  and  miserable,  and 
to  get  these  wrong  conditions  righted.  We  no 
longer  feel  that  we  have  done  our  duty  when 
we  have  ministered  to  the  more  evident  needs 
of  those  who  are  down.  We  wish  to  discover 
what  it  is  that  keeps  them  down,  that  we  may 
lift  them  up. 

Thus  a  significant  feature  of  the  new  philan- 
thropy is  the  "Settlement."  Men  and  women 
of  culture,  religion,  and  fraternal  enthusiasm, 
make  their  homes  among  the  poor.  They  live 
among  them  in  the  spirit  of  Jesus,  coming  in- 
creasingly into  acquaintance  and  sympathy  with 
them.  They  share  the  difficult  conditions  of 
their  lives.  Gradually  they  get  knowledge. 
They  know  by  the   impressive   lessons  of  per- 


THE   NEW   PHILANTHROPY.  21 

sonal  experience  what  life  means  in  the 
crowded  quarters  of  the  town.  They  know 
from  the  inside  what  the  man  who  is  down 
thinks  of  the  landlord,  of  the  sweater,  of  the 
health  commissioner,  of  the  ward  politician,  of 
the  saloon-keeper,  of  the  clergyman,  of  the  dis- 
trict visitor  from  the  associated  charities ;  and 
what  reason  he  has  for  his  conclusions.  And 
they  know  the  man  who  is  down.  They  are 
his  confidential  friends.  They  are  intimately 
acquainted  with  his  temptations,  with  his  hin- 
drances, and  with  his  real  needs.  They  are 
beginning  where  the  competent  physician  be- 
gins, with  the  diagnosis.  They  are  making  it 
possible  for  us  to  minister,  not  to  the  symptoms, 
but  to  the  disease.  They  are  teaching  that  dis- 
cretion which  a  philosopher  has  pronounced  the 
better  part  of  charity.  To  compassion  they 
would  add  intelligence.  This  is  the  heart  of 
the  new  philanthropy. 

The  work  of  the  Settlement  suggests  another 
characteristic  of  the  new  and  better  almsgiving. 
We  are  realizing  now  that  the  genuine  and 
permanent  uplifting  which  we  desire  can  be 
brought  about  only  by  the  ministry  of  man 
to  man;  only  by  the  benediction  of  personal 
contact. 


22  THE  NEW   PHILANTHROPY. 

There  was  that  significant  scene  beside  the 
Mount  of  the  Transfiguration.  The  demoniac 
lad  was  a  type  of  the  unrelieved  distress  of  the 
world,  of  which  we  read  in  every  morning's 
paper,  and  which  we  may  read,  plainer  if  we 
will,  and  closer,  in  the  faces  of  our  fellow-men. 
The  devil  had  got  into  the  boy.  Some  of  the 
bystanders  looked  on  with  curiosity  at  the  lad's 
ravings  and  contortions,  probably  with  little 
pity,  —  the  sight  was  not  an  uncommon  one ; 
they  were  accustomed  to  it.  Others  were  in- 
terested, sympathetic,  sharing  in  the  grief  and 
anxiety  of  the  father  so  far  as  perfectly  con- 
tented outsiders  can,  desirous  of  doing  some- 
thing, yet  having  no  idea  of  what  to  do  —  a 
company  in  whose  midst  most  of  us  stand 
to-day.  Some  were  even  hostile,  secretly  hop- 
ing that  nothing  would  be  done ;  not  because 
they  were  on  the  side  of  the  devil,  nor  be- 
cause they  bore  any  grudge  against  the  father 
or  the  boy,  but  because  they  were  the  political 
and  ecclesiastical  opponents  of  the  apostles, 
who  were  trying  to  be  of  help :  better  that  the 
pain  should  grip  the  lad  a  deal  longer  than  that 
help  should  come  from  such  as  these.  The 
apostles  themselves  knew  what  it  was  to  be 
blinded  by  that  jealousy.     Finally,  there  were 


THE   NEW   PHILANTHROPY.  23 

the  apostles  ;  they  were  doing  what  they  could, 
applying  such  remedies,  putting  up  such  peti- 
tions, pronouncing  such  exorcisms  as  they 
knew  how,  but  to  no  purpose.  The  victim  of 
the  devil  lay  upon  the  ground.  Then  the 
Master  came. 

And  what  did  he  ?  He  might  have  done  the 
twenty  ineffective  things  which  we  would  prob- 
ably have  done,  since  we  are  still  doing  them. 
He  might,  according  to  our  modern  fashion, 
have  appointed  a  committee  consisting  of  three 
apostles,  Peter  and  James  and  John,  to  inves- 
tigate the  case ;  and  they  might  have  held  a 
meeting,  and,  having  elected  Peter  to  be  chair- 
man, might  thus  have  proceeded  to  consider  the 
matter.  It  would  have  failed.  We  know  that 
by  experience.  This  kind  cometh  not  out  by 
committees. 

The  Master  came  himself.  He  took  the  lad 
by  the  hand :  we  are  not  told  that  any  of  the 
others  had  done  that.  He  showed  himself  the 
friend  of  the  father  and  the  boy,  putting  him- 
self into  direct  personal  relation  with  them. 
Thus  he  raised  him  up,  and  he  arose ;  and  the 
defiant  devil  was  expelled. 

The  personality  of  Jesus  entered,  of  course, 
immeasurably  into  this  marvel.     It  is  not  likely 


24  THE  NEW   PHILAKTHROPY. 

that  any  one  of  the  Twelve,  taking  the  lad  by 
the  hand,  or  by  both  hands,  could  thus  have 
lifted  him  into  sanity  and  health.  The  empha- 
sis is  distinctly  upon  character.  When  they 
sought  the  reason  for  their  failure,  Jesus  pointed 
out  their  deficient  devotion,  their  lack  of  prayer, 
their  consequent  want  of  faith  and  love,  the 
essentials  of  the  highest  character.  They  had 
not  been  good  enough  to  make  their  personality 
tell.  That,  no  doubt,  is  why  even  the  new 
philanthropy  does  not  immediately  bring  in  the 
millennium.  The  fault  is  in  the  new  philan- 
thropists. 

Still,  it  is  significant  that  not  only  here,  but 
elsewhere,  Jesus  got  very  close  to  the  man  whom 
he  would  help.  It  means  something  —  that  he 
took  him  by  the  hand.  He  was  forever  doing 
that.  Throughout  his  ministry  he  dealt  with 
individuals,  not  with  crowds.  He  went  among 
the  people,  never  holding  himself  aloof  from 
them ;  coming  into  personal  acquaintance  with 
their  temptations,  bearing  their  sicknesses,  and 
carrying  their  sorrows.  He  was  called  the 
friend  of  publicans  and  sinners.  And  the  name 
was  a  true  description  of  his  ministry  among 
them.  He  talked  with  them,  walked  with  them, 
ate  at  their  tables,  knew  the  names  of  their  little 


THE   NEW   PHILANTHROPY.  25 

children  ;  he  helped  them  not  so  much  by  what 
he  said  as  by  what  he  was.  He  won  their  hearts 
and  changed  their  lives  not  by  his  sermons  but 
by  his  blessed  friendship.  He  took  them  by 
the  hand;  thus  he  lifted  them  up,  and  they 
arose. 

We  are  growing  into  prof ounder  realization  of 
the  fact  that  if  we  are  to  help  those  who 
are  down,  we  must  do  it  in  that  way.  The 
personal  element  must  be  emphasized.  The 
privileged  must  become  the  friends  of  the  un- 
privileged. It  will  not  do  to  disparage  com- 
mittees, nor  to  dispense  with  organizations,  nor 
to  disband  the  charitable  societies ;  but  it  must 
be  understood  that  these  agencies  are  Christian 
and  effective  only  when  institutionalism  is  sub- 
ordinated to  personality.  The  worker  among 
the  poor  will  do  good  work,  worth  doing,  only 
as  the  official  disappears  in  the  friend.  The 
hand  of  help  must  be  held  out,  cordially,  fra- 
ternally, and  ungloved. 

Elisha  is  sent  for  in  a  case  of  need;  the 
widow's  son  lies  dead.  And  Elisha  sends  his 
servant  and  his  staff,  and  the  servant  lays  the 
staff  upon  the  boy;  but  there  is  no  breath  nor 
motion.  Then  the  prophet  comes  himself :  up 
he  goes  into  the  chamber  where  the  dead  child 


26  THE   NEW    PHILANTHROPY. 

lies,  and  he  casts  himself  upon  the  child,  with 
his  face  upon  his  face,  and  his  hands  upon  his 
hands,  and  life  comes  back.  The  servant  and 
the  staff  are  not  enough ;  he  who  would  help 
must  go  himself. 

The  new  philanthropy,  accordingly,  sets  itself 
against  all  that  tends  to  build  up  barriers  across 
society.  It  deprecates  that  most  natural,  but 
most  unfortunate,  condition  of  things  which 
puts  the  rich,  the  cultured,  the  good,  the  wise, 
in  one  part  of  the  town,  and  gathers  the  shift- 
less, the  ignorant,  the  reprobate,  and  the  poor 
into  another  part;  and  thus  erects  a  wall  be- 
tween those  who  need  help  and  those  who  are 
able  to  help  them.  It  cannot  see  how  the  bread 
can  rise  while  the  yeast  is  kept  apart  from  the 
dough.  It  despairs  of  lasting  betterment  until 
the  wealthy  and  the  educated  begin  to  build 
their  homes  on  the  back  streets  and  take  pleas- 
ure in  becoming  acquainted  with  their  neigh- 
bors. 

Society  is  provincial,  parochial,  and  narrow, 
llie  same  people  meet  the  same  people  day  after 
day,  even  to  weariness.  The  caste  spirit  tends 
to  take  all  interest  out  of  social  life.  To  belong 
to  an  exclusive  clique  is  as  belittling  as  to  live 
one's  whole  life  in  a  little  country  town.     The 


THE   NEW   PHILANTHROPY.  ^7 

new  philanthropy  would  widen  society,  bring 
new  elements  and  new  interests  into  it,  make 
it  broad  as  humanity.  It  w^ould  take  high  and 
low,  rich  and  poor,  the  classes  and  the  masses, 
and  establish  the  fine  Christian  principle :  From 
every  one  according  to  his  ability,  to  every  one 
according  to  his  need.  What  we  want  is  not 
that  those  who  are  better  off  than  we  are  should 
give  us  bread  and  shoes,  or  even  district  nurses 
and  evening  classes;  we  want  their  interest, 
their  personal  affection,  their  fraternal  love. 
Nothing  else  will  greatly  help  us.  And  noth- 
ing else  that  we  can  give  will  greatly  help. 
We  must  give  ourselves. 

Where  is  the  successful  man  who  is  not  help- 
ing some  brother  of  his  up  the  steep  ladder  of 
success?  Where  is  the  happy  woman  who  is 
not  carrying  sunshine  out  of  her  pleasant  home 
into  some  house  with  dark  windows  and  black 
rooms?  Where  are  the  cultured  who  are  not 
ministering  of  their  culture  to  those  who  lack? 
and  the  privileged  who  are  not  making  them- 
selves helpfully  acquainted  with  the  unprivi- 
leged? Who  has  wealth,  education,  social 
position,  and  is  content,  though  others  lack? 
Who  is  satisfied  to  be  a  Christian,  without  try- 
ing to  make  somebody  else  Christian?     Come 


28  THE  NEW  PHILANTHROPY. 

down,  come  down  out  of  the  mountain,  out  of 
the  golden  clouds,  and  bring  your  blessing  with 
you,  and  find  the  need  which  awaits  your  com- 
ing at  the  foot  of  the  hill !  Find  the  neighbor 
who  is  struggling  in  a  losing  battle  with  the 
devil,  give  him  your  hand;  not  your  money 
only,  nor  your  interest  only,  not  your  prayers 
only,  —  but  your  hand,  and  lift  him  up. 


TO  HELP   THE   POOR. 


"  Give  to  him  that  asketh  thee.  "  —  St.  Matt.  v.  42. 


There  is  a  great  difference  between  the 
four  Gospels  and  the  four  books  which  Euclid 
wrote  on  conic  sections ;  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount  is  not  an  instruction  in  mathematics. 
One  would  think  that  a  truth  so  plain  as  this 
must  be  sufficiently  evident  to  all  intelligent 
people.  Nevertheless,  it  needs  to  be  stated  and 
explained  and  emphasized.  Many  excellent 
Christians  persist  in  reading  the  Bible  as  if  it 
were  a  religious  arithmetic. 

There  is  a  difference  between  mathematics 
and  literature,  between  a  problem  and  a  poem, 
between  a  sum  and  a  sermon,  between  a  geo- 
metrical proposition  and  a  prayer ;  one  must  be 
read  literally,  the  other  must  be  read  spiritually. 
One  must  be  taken  precisely  as  it  stands ;  we 
are  not  to  go  around  it,  nor  above  it,  nor  be- 
neath it.  It  means  exactly  what  it  says,  and 
neither  less  nor  more.  The  other  may  be  only 
a  symbol  or  a  simile.     The  real  truth  lies  be- 

29 


30  TO   HEILP  THE  POOR. 

hind  it,  and  is  to  be  sought  not  in  the  gram- 
matical construction  of  the  words,  not  in  the 
definitions  of  the  dictionary,  but  in  the  mind 
and  heart  of  the  writer.  He  finds  the  thought 
who  is  possessed  not  only  of  knowledge  but  of 
sympathy. 

As  truth  broadens  and  deepens,  it  gets  too 
great  for  the  narrow  reach  of  mathematical 
expression.  It  eludes  the  grasp  of  speech.  It 
defies  definition.  It  can  only  be  hinted  at,  sug- 
gested; words  can  be  thrown  out  in  the  direc- 
tion of  it,  hoping  to  hit  some  part  of  it,  but 
with  small  chance  of  striking  the  centre.  Con- 
sider the  inevitable  difference  in  the  definition 
of  a  piece  of  wood  from  the  definition  of  a  piece 
of  music.  The  whole  of  the  piece  of  wood 
can  be  got  into  the  description;  but  the  piece 
of  music  —  what  master  of  language  can  ade- 
quately describe  it  ?  Suppose  that  the  descrip- 
tion of  the  piece  of  music  were  to  be  read 
literally,  and  accounted  a  complete  description, 
and  we  should  persuade  ourselves  that  there 
was  nothing  more  in  the  music  than  appeared 
in  the  words  —  what  a  mistake ! 

That  is  what  we  have  in  mind  when  we  say 
that  the  Bible  ought  not  to  be  read  literally. 
We  ought  not,  that  is,  to  think  that  the  whole 


TO   HELP  THE  POOR.  31 

meaning  of  the  words  of  Christ  is  on  the  sur- 
face, and  that  we  have  fully  understood  his 
meaning  when  we  have  interpreted  the  sentence 
with  a  grammar  and  a  dictionary. 

St.  Paul  often  contrasted  these  two  ways  of 
reading  religious  truth,  the  literal  and  the  spir- 
itual; and  always  to  the  disadvantage  of  the 
literal.  "  We  serve,"  he  said,  "  in  the  newness 
of  the  spirit,  and  not  in  the  oldness  of  the 
letter."  Another  time  he  spoke  with  even 
stronger  emphasis :  "  The  letter  killeth,  but 
the  spirit  giveth  life."  The  history  of  inter- 
pretation is  a  long  commentary  upon  these 
texts.  People  who  have  declared  that  the 
Bible  means  exactly  what  it  says,  meaning 
that  the  Holy  Scriptures  are  to  be  read  like 
a  page  in  arithmetic,  have  fallen  into  endless 
absurdities  and  fanaticisms.  Only  they  who 
have  seen  that  the  Bible  means  a  great  deal 
more  than  it  says  have  found  the  real  will  of 
God. 

Not  in  the  letter,  then,  but  in  the  spirit, 
must  we  interpret  that  notable  word  of  Jesus 
Christ  where  he  said,  "  Give  to  him  that 
asketh  thee." 

This  was  spoken  in  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount;  and  one  of  the  chief  purposes  of  that 


32  TO   HELP   THE   POOR. 

sermon  was  to  substitute  the  new  spirit  of  the 
gospel  for  the  old  letter  of  the  law.  Thus 
Jesus  said  that  he  had  come  to  fulfil  the  law ; 
that  is,  to  fill  it  full,  to  get  the  hearts  of  men 
so  in  sympathy  with  the  great  teachings  of  the 
law  that  they  would  have  no  more  need  for  the 
intricate  and  petty  regulations  which  at  that 
time  occupied  the  minds  of  religious  people. 
There  was  to  be  the  same  difference  between  a 
new  Christian  and  an  old  Hebrew  that  there  is 
between  a  master  of  music,  whose  heart  is  filled 
with  the  sublime  thoughts  of  a  great  composer, 
and  another  who  is  able  to  think  only  of  half 
notes  and  quarter  notes,  and  sharps  and  flats, 
and  the  right  position  of  the  fingers. 

Accordingly,  Jesus  laid  all  emphasis  upon 
the  spirit.  He  regarded  not  so  much  the 
hands  as  the  heart.  He  taught  that  the  com- 
mandments could  not  be  adequately  understood 
by  their  grammatical  construction  only.  They 
were  not  to  be  learned  by  any  process  of  spell- 
ing or  parsing.  They  meant  more  than  they 
said. 

Presently,  in  the  sermon,  Jesus  set  forth  what 
at  first  sight  seemed  like  rules.  For  a  moment 
he  appeared  to  be  teaching  like  the  scribes. 
"Ye  have  heard  that  it  was  said.  An  eye  for 


TO   HELP  THE   POOR.  33 

an  eye,  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth ;  but  I  say  unto 
you,  Resist  not  him  that  is  evil,  but  whosoever 
smiteth  thee  on  the  right  cheek,  turn  to  him 
the  other  also.  And  if  any  man  would  go  to 
law  with  thee  and  take  away  thy  coat,  let  him 
have  thy  cloak  also.  And  whosoever  shall  com- 
pel thee  to  go  one  mile,  go  with  him  twain. 
Give  to  him  that  asketh  thee,  and  from  him 
that  would  borrow  of  thee  turn  thou  not 
away." 

At  first  these  read  like  absolute  injunctions. 
These  acts,  it  would  seem,  we  are  every  one  of 
us  to  do.  But  presently  we  find  that  Jesus 
himself  protested  against  an  unjust  blow,  and 
did  not  turn  the  other  cheek.  And  we  come 
by  and  by  to  see  that  a  great  principle  is  set 
forth  here,  and  not  a  series  of  rigid  regulations. 
Indeed,  so  desirous  is  Jesus  that  it  shall  not  be 
thought  that  he  is  following  the  example  of  the 
religious  teachers  of  Jerusalem,  and  binding  his 
disciples  with  the  confining  cords  of  unelastic 
rules,  that,  as  it  seems,  he  purposely  puts  these 
statements  into  the  form  of  paradox,  and  makes 
them  so  extreme  that  it  must  be  evident  that 
the  spirit  rather  than  the  letter  is  intended. 

"  Give  to  him  that  asketh  thee : "  put  that 
into  absolutely  literal  practice.     Take  it,  for 


34  TO   HELP  THE  POOR. 

example,  in  domestic  life ;  let  parents  use  it 
with  their  children.  Whatever  the  small  child 
asks  for,  give  it.  Give  it  a  pair  of  scissors, 
give  it  a  looking-glass  and  a  hammer,  give  it 
unlimited  confections  ;  no  matter  what  the 
child  asks,  there  is  your  literal  duty.  You 
see  what  the  Bible  says;  you  see  what  your 
Lord  and  Master  directs  you  to  do.  There 
stands  the  commandment,  plain  and  unquali- 
fied, without  exception.  Obey,  asking  no  ques- 
tions, making  no  reservations.  Why,  that  would 
actually  kill  half  the  babies  in  this  town  to- 
morrow ! 

It  must,  then,  be  evident  that  this  word  of 
Jesus  was  not  intended  to  be  taken  literally. 
What  he  meant  to  teach  was  not  the  letter  of 
an  indiscriminate,  injudicious,  and  pernicious 
distribution,  but  the  spirit  of  generosity,  of  un- 
selfishness, and  of  fraternal  love.  We  are  to 
give  only  when  our  gift  will  be  a  real  gift ; 
that  is,  a  benefit.  It  is  likely  that  nine  times 
out  of  ten  to-day  we  will  best  obey  this  divine 
commandment  by  refusing  to  give  to  him  that 
asketh. 

How  shall  we  help  the  poor  ?  We  all  desire 
to  do  that.  The  poor,  it  is  true,  have  hard 
thoughts  sometimes  against  those  who  live  more 


TO   HELP  THE   POOR.  35 

comfortable  lives  than  they.  Yet  almost  all  the 
people  who  have  money  really  wish  to  minis- 
ter to  their  neighbors  who  have  none.  There 
are  selfish  people  the  world  over,  among  the 
rich  as  among  the  poor ;  and  there  are  hard 
hearts  beneath  all  kinds  of  coats.  But  the  peo- 
ple who  dwell  in  the  palaces  are  for  the  most 
part  well-intentioned  and  good-hearted  people, 
who  think  a  great  deal  more  about  the  poor 
than  the  poor  imagine,  and  who  do  a  great  deal 
more  for  the  poor  than  anybody  ever  finds  out. 
They  might,  no  doubt,  do  more.  They  might 
bring  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  to-morrow,  if 
they  knew  how.  The  worst  hindrance  is  not 
the  lack  of  sympathy,  not  the  lack  of  willing- 
ness, but  the  lack  of  knowledge.  What  to  do, 
and  how  to  do  it  —  who  can  tell  ? 

Most  people  remember  the  description  which 
Jesus  gave  of  the  last  judgment.  We  know 
what  kind  of  sinners  will  stand  in  that  day 
upon  the  side  of  malediction.  All  the  unhelp- 
ful people  will  be  there ;  all  the  men  and  wo- 
men who  have  cold  hearts  and  stern  faces,  who 
have  seen  Christ  hungry  and  have  given  him 
no  meat,  and  thirsty,  and  have  given  him  no 
drink,  and  a  stranger,  and  have  turned  him  out 
into  the  cold.    Seen  Christ?    Yes,  in  the  person 


36  TO   HELP  THE   POOR. 

of  his  poor.  We  have  no  wish  to  be  among 
that  company. 

But  how  shall  we  minister  to  Christ  ?  How 
shall  we  know  him  when  we  see  him  ?  It  used 
to  be  thought  that  if  we  were  to  give  to  all  who 
asked,  and  never  to  turn  away  a  beggar  hungry, 
then,  at  least,  we  would  not  miss  the  Lord  Christ 
when  he  came  knocking  at  our  door.  But  we 
are  learning  now  that  ninety-nine  times  out  of  a 
hundred  —  yes,  and  in  most  people's  experience 
oftener  than  that  —  the  beggar  is  not  the  dis- 
guised Christ,  but  the  disguised  devil.  And  we 
are  beginning  to  doubt  if  Christ  would  desire 
us  to  do  his  poor  a  harm  a  hundred  times  in  the 
hope  that  one  time  out  of  the  hundred  we  might 
do  a  deed  of  help. 

These  men  who  tell  us  that  they  live  in  Jer- 
sey City,  and  have  been  sick  in  a  hospital  some- 
where, and  have  spent  all  the  money  they  had 
saved  up  to  pay  their  passage  home,  are  all 
thieves  and  liars.  At  least,  I  have  never  found 
an  honest  exception. 

These  women  who  have  a  drunken  husband 
and  seven  sick  children,  and  the  rent  due  at 
four  o'clock  this  afternoon,  and  a  cruel  land- 
lord ready  to  put  them  out  unless  they  pay  him 
the   eight   dollars  that  they  owe  him,  are  all 


TO  HELP  THE  POOR.  87 

thieves  and  liars.  Not  one  of  them  deserves  a 
penny. 

These  are  the  enemies  of  the  decent  poor. 
They  bring  all  honest  poverty  into  disrepute. 
They  harden  the  hearts  of  the  generous.  They 
take  the  money  that  many  a  hungry  man  or  wo- 
man would  be  glad  to  spend  for  bread,  and  they 
spend  it  for  beer.  Every  dime  that  is  given  to 
these  beggars  encourages  pauperism,  invites  idle 
rascality  to  continue  in  idleness,  and  goes  to  the 
support  of  that  most  dangerous  of  all  our  insti- 
tutions, the  saloon. 

We  ought,  indeed,  to  desire  to  help  even  the 
undeserving  poor.  We  ought  to  try  to  lift  up 
all  those  who  are  down ;  and  if  they  are  down 
morally  as  well  as  socially,  if  they  lack  con- 
science as  well  as  comfort,  if  they  are  not  only 
poor  in  treasure  here  on  earth,  but  are  absolutely 
bankrupt  up  in  heaven,  so  much  the  more  do 
they  need  our  interest  and  our  pity  and  our 
help.  Jesus  came,  he  said,  to  seek  and  save 
the  undeserving  poor,  —  the  lost.  He  was  re- 
proached by  some  eminently  respectable  people 
because  he  was  the  friend  of  sinful  men  and  sin- 
ful women.  If  we  are  Christians,  we  will  follow 
his  example.  These  thieves  and  liars  who  come 
to  us  with  their  manufactured  misery,  and  try 


38  TO   HELP  THE  POOR. 

to  persuade  us  to  support  them  in  their  evil 
living,  —  we  ought  to  be  interested  in  them. 
They  are  brothers  and  sisters  of  ours.  We 
ought  to  give  to  them  when  they  ask,  but  not 
to  give  them  what  they  ask.  The  purpose  of 
Jesus  in  his  intercourse  with  the  undeserving 
poor  was  always  to  uplift  them.  He  never 
gave  them  anything  to  encourage  them  to  keep 
on  in  their  old  life.  He  took  them  by  the  hand, 
indeed,  and  met  them  kindly.  And  so  ought 
we.  But  it  was  that  he  might  lift  them  up. 
Indiscriminate  charity  will  never  lift  anybody 
up.  It  is  our  Christian  duty  to  refuse  to  give 
anything  to  an  unknown  beggar  at  the  door. 

But  what  if  Christ  should  come  ?  What  if 
amid  the  company  of  vagabonds  there  should 
be  one  deserving  man,  one  needy  woman, 
one  hungry  child?  Christ  sometimes  comes 
strangely  attired,  when  we  would  least  expect 
him,  and  we  do  not  wish  to  turn  him  away 
when  he  comes.     What  shall  we  do  ? 

The  only  good  plan,  if  we  cannot  ourselves 
look  up  the  case,  is  to  send  the  beggar  to  some- 
body who  can  make  investigation  for  us.  Even 
if  we  were  to  lielp,  what  we  might  do  would 
be  but  a  temporary  relief.  There  would  be  no 
real  good  in  it.     The  kindest  charity  would  be 


TO   HELP  THE   POOR.  39 

to  put  this  beggar,  whose  pathetic  story  per- 
suades us  that  here  at  last  is  that  improbable 
person,  the  honest  mendicant,  within  reach  of 
personal  uplifting  influences,  where  he  may  get 
bread  and  money,  and  individual  interest  also. 

If  we  can  ourselves  go  home  with  him,  and 
see  with  our  own  eyes,  and  take  the  case  under 
our  own  care,  that  is  best  of  all.  If  not,  we 
can  send  him  to  the  nearest  office  of  the  Asso- 
ciated Charities.  The  good  people  whom  the 
mendicant  will  find  there  are  devoted  night 
and  day  to  the  service  of  such  as  he.  They 
will  do  for  him,  and  speedily,  exactly  what  he 
needs.  They  will  examine  him  as  the  physi- 
cian examines  the  patient,  and  find  out  what 
is  the  matter  with  him.  We  do  not  know 
enough  for  that.  They  will  verify  his  sad 
account.  And  when  they  find  a  case  of  gen- 
uine need,  where  a  bag  of  flour  and  a  bushel  of 
potatoes,  as  St.  James  says,  make  a  gift  ever  so 
much  more  religious  than  prayer  and  cold  ad- 
vice, they  will  minister  to  these  necessities. 
We  may  have  confidence  in  their  judgment,  in 
their  ready  hands  and  their  kind  hearts. 

Wherever  such  an  association  is  not  in  reach, 
the  wisest  recourse  is  to  the  minister  of  the 
parish.     The   beggar  should  be  sent  to  him. 


40  TO  HELP  THE  POOE. 

He  has  money  provided  by  the  parish  for  this 
purpose.  It  is  a  part  of  his  work  to  look  up 
just  such  cases.  You  may  tell  him,  if  you  like, 
that  you  will  be  glad  to  assist  if  the  person  is 
found  worthy. 

Only  do  not  dispense  alms  at  your  own  door. 
You  make  yourself  thereby  a  conspirator  against 
the  community.  You  encourage  the  enemies 
of  honesty  and  industry.  You  support  the  idle 
inhabitants  of  the  worst  houses  in  the  town. 
And  you  defeat  the  purposes  of  the  good 
people  who  are  trying  to  uplift  the  poor. 

But  there  are  deserving  poor.  These  have 
fallen  into  poverty  sometimes  by  reason  of 
sickness,  sometimes  by  reason  of  accident,  or 
old  age,  or  bereavement,  or  the  incapacity 
or  the  iniquity  of  the  bread-winner  of  the 
family.  More  often,  however,  the  chief  reason 
for  their  need  is  simply  that  they  live  in  the 
nineteenth  century.  They  are  the  victims  of 
an  imperfect  civilization.  They  are  poor,  as 
people  were  enslaved  in  Athens  and  in  Rome, 
and  in  lands  somewhat  closer  to  us  both  in 
space  and  time,  because  they  cannot  help  it. 
They  suffer  poverty  as  great  numbers  of  people 
in  the  Middle  Ages  suffered  from  the  plague. 
Slavery  and  the  plague  were  in  their  day  coa- 


TO  HELP  THE  POOR.  41 

sidered  inevitable.  They  were  regarded  as 
the  mysterious  workings  of  an  inscrutable 
Providence,  by  which  one  man  was  lifted  up 
and  another  was  thrust  down,  and  by  whose 
will  disease  was  let  loose  to  prey  upon  the 
nations ;  man's  part  being  only  to  make  the 
best  of  them.  But  we  have  learned  better  than 
that.     We  have  remedied  that. 

There  is  a  day,  and  we  ourselves  are  living 
in  it,  when  it  is  considered  equally  inevitable 
that  great  multitudes  of  people  should  remain 
in  poverty.  That  idea  shows  how  much  need 
we  still  have  to  teach  the  lessons  of  civilization 
and  Christianity.  There  is  no  more  perma- 
nence in  poverty  than  there  was  in  slavery  or 
plague.  Poverty  is  not  older  than  those  twin 
evils  that  we  have  got  rid  of.  It  is  only  a 
little  harder  to  fight.  Every  year  we  are 
outgrowing  our  old  barbarism  and  our  old 
paganism,  and  getting  more  civilized  and  more 
Christian.  And  we  will  one  of  these  days  get 
the  better  even  of  poverty. 

Let  us  understand  clearly  that  poverty  is 
simply  one  of  the  signs  of  social  imperfection. 
These  poor  people  are  the  victims  of  our  ignor- 
ance of  the  true  principles  of  political  economy. 
They  are  paying  the  penalty  of  our  universal 


42  TO   HELP   THE   POOR. 

industrial  mistakes.  The  great  industrial  ma- 
chine is  out  of  gear.  It  is  giving  some  people 
great  fortunes  and  wide  acres,  and  other  people 
starvation  wages  and  the  unclean  corners  of 
tenement  houses.  Evidently  it  is  in  sad  need 
of  repair.  We  make  a  mistake  if  we  think  that 
the  poor  in  general  are  to  be  blamed  for  their 
poverty.  We  are  all  to  blame  for  it.  It  is  the 
fault  of  the  century. 

Accordingly,  the  helping  of  the  deserving 
poor  is  a  deeper  and  more  difficult  matter  than 
is  sometimes  thought.  It  means,  indeed,  the 
dispensing  of  orders  for  groceries  and  coal;  it 
means  that  Christian  people  ought  to  provide 
from  their  abundance  for  the  immediate  needs 
of  their  poorer  neighbors,  and  not  wait  to  be 
asked,  but  rather  to  be  on  the  watch  for  ways 
of  giving  to  those  who  do  not  ask  and  will  not 
ask.  But  it  means  more  than  this.  Not  by 
doles  of  bread  and  money  will  the  poor  be  per- 
manently helped.  Often  that  kind  of  charity 
is  but  a  hindrance ;  it  endangers  self-respect 
and  weakens  independence.  What  the  poor 
are  really  in  need  of  is  opportunity  and  sym- 
pathy. They  want  a  chance,  and  they  want  a 
friend. 

The  poor  ought  to  be  given  clean  streets  in 


TO   HELP   THE  POOR.  43 

front  of  their  houses.  The  street  is  the  poor 
man's  lawn ;  that  is  where  his  children  play. 
The  happiness  and  the  health  of  the  poor  de- 
pend upon  the  condition  of  the  pavement.  If 
there  were  more  money  spent  on  the  streets, 
less  might  be  spent  on  jails  and  hospitals.  We 
grow  but  slowly  into  appreciation  of  the  fact 
that  the  most  important  products  of  the  city 
come  not  out  of  its  mills,  but  out  of  its  houses. 
The  essential  thing  for  the  best  prosperity  of 
the  town  is  that  its  people  shall  be  industri- 
ous, intelligent,  and  moral.  The  day  will  come 
when  the  improvement  of  a  street  will  be  val- 
ued not  with  reference  to  the  price  of  real 
estate,  but  with  regard  to  the  better  living 
which  is  made  possible  on  the  two  sides  of  it. 
It  is  but  idle  to  build  our  public  schools  of  oak 
and  granite,  while  the  children  who  attend 
them  dwell  in  wretched  homes,  fronting  upon 
narrow  and  foul  thoroughfares. 

Another  efficient  way  to  help  the  poor  is  to  \ 
secure  an  enforcement  of  the  sanitary  laws, 
especially  to  see  that  the  tenement  houses  are 
fit  for  human  habitation.  He  who  owns  the 
tenement  has  a  clear  path  to  his  duty  to  the 
poor.  God  knows  how  much  of  the  daily  earn- 
ings  of  the   poor  he  takes   for   the    miserable 


44  TO   HELP   THE  POOR. 

privilege  of  living  in  his  house.  God  knows 
what  kind  of  family  life,  or  desecration  of 
family,  life,  the  landlord  is  responsible  for  by  the 
conditions  of  his  building.  And  God  knows, 
if  we  do  not,  that  the  man  who  owns  an  over- 
crowded or  unclean  tenement,  and  out  of  the 
money  which  comes  to  him  from  the  misery 
and  sin  of  his  poor  brothers  and  sisters,  makes 
pious  contribution  to  the  church,  mocks  God. 
Some  people  seem  to  think  that  God  is  blind ; 
that  he  can  see  only  in  the  dim  light  of  conse- 
crated buildings,  and  that  he  knows  how  people 
conduct  themselves  in  church,  and  does  not 
know  how  they  behave  anywhere  else.  They 
seem  to  believe  that  God  looks  only  at  the 
houses  which  have  steeples.  But  God  looks 
closest  at  the  houses  of  the  poor.  And  the 
question  of  sanitation  and  the  question  of  rent 
are  of  immense  interest  to  the  Lord  God 
Almighty. 

The  rich  are  debtors  to  the  poor,  because  the 
rich  and  poor  are  brothers,  and  every  brother 
owes  his  brother  something.  There  is  one  debt, 
St.  Paul  says,  which  never  can  be  paid;  it  is 
perpetually  outstanding;  instalment  after  in- 
stalment touches  only  the  interest,  the  principal 
remains.     It  is  the  debt  of  fraternal  love.     The 


TO   HELP   THE   POOR.  45 

rich  ought  to  use  some  of  their  money  in  pay- 
ing the  interest  on  this  debt.  They  do  use  a 
great  deal  of  money  for  that  purpose,  but  not 
always  with  ideal  wisdom.  For  the  deserving 
poor  do  not  ask  alms.  They  ask  opportunity 
and  brotherly  consideration.  And  to  that  they 
have  a  right. 

The  poor  ought  to  be  given  the  right  hand 
of  every  prosperous  Christian.  The  poor  man 
ought  to  have  a  friend  in  any  member  of  the 
church.  Every  employer  of  labor  has  his  answer 
to  the  question,  How  to  help  the  poor?  marked 
out  plain  before  him.  The  poor,  so  far  as  he  is 
concerned,  are  his  own  men.  It  is  his  place 
to  see  that  they  are  not  taken  advantage  of 
by  reason  of  their  poverty;  that  they  are  not 
given  a  scant  wage;  are  not  overtaxed ;  are  not 
kept  to  work  so  many  hours  that  they  have  no 
chance  to  live  like  Christians.  That  is  what 
the  poor  man  asks  of  the  philanthropists  —  the 
plain  philanthropy  of  practical  fair-dealing. 

And  from  us  all  the  poor  need  sympathy. 
The  rich  and  the  poor  alike  need  to  know  each 
other  better.  Genuine  help  comes  along  the 
way  of  personal  acquaintance.  Jesus  helped 
the  poor,  not  by  giving  them  money,  for  he  had 
none  to  give,  but  by  giving  them  his  time  and 


f 


46  TO  HELP  THE  POOR. 

his  attention  and  his  love.  Every  Christian 
family  which  is  comfortably  circumstanced 
ought  to  have  some  neighbor,  not  so  plenti- 
fully supplied,  whom  they  are  fraternally 
helping;  and  helping  not  in  any  spirit  of 
condescension,  not  with  any  taint  of  pride  or 
of  position,  but  with  real  interest  and  personal 
friendship,  and  delight  in  giving  pleasure. 

"  Blessed  is  he  that  considereth  the  poor  and 
needy."  Considereth! — the  benediction  comes 
not  to  the  careless  giver.  "Give  to  him  that 
asketh  thee"  —  give  what?  Give  your  atten- 
tion, your  best  thought,  your  helping  hand, 
yourself. 


THE   GOSPEL  AND   POVERTY. 


"And  the  poor  have  the  gospel  preached  to  them."  — St. 
Matt.  xi.  5.  

This  is  the  end  of  the  authoritative  list  of 
the  credentials  of  Christianity.  It  is  the  climax 
of  the  appeal  of  Jesus  to  the  trust  and  loyalty 
of  men. 

People  asked  questions  in  those  days  as  they 
do  now,  and  found  it  hard  to  believe  in  the 
Christian  religion.  Even  Jesus  Christ  himself 
did  not  satisfy,  did  not  convince,  all  those  who 
heard  him.  One  would  think  that  people  who 
had  been  taught  by  John  the  Baptist,  and 
who  had  actually  looked  into  the  face  and 
heard  the  voice  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  would 
find  faith  easy  and  natural,  not  to  say  inev- 
itable. How  could  they  help  believing?  But 
it  is  more  than  suggested  in  the  narrative  from 
which  the  text  is  taken  that  even  John  himself 
had  fallen  into  doubt.  Certain  came  from  John 
to  inquire  of  Jesus,  "  Art  thou  he  that  should 
come,  or  do  we  look  for  another  ?  "  And  they 
are  sent  back  with  a  message  to  their  Master,  as 

47 


48  THE   GOSPEL  AND  POVERTY. 

if  the  question  had  been  his,  and  he  had  been 
the  one  who  stood  in  need  of  reassurance,  "  Go 
and  tell  John." 

Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  so  different  from  all 
men's  idea  of  Christ,  that  it  is  no  wonder  if 
some  doubted.  They  had  speculated  with  re- 
gard to  his  coming  as  we  to-day  speculate  about 
his  second  coming.  They  had  all  sorts  of 
vague  and  mistaken  notions  about  him.  They 
thought  that  the  advent  of  Messiah  would  be 
like  the  triumphal  entry  of  a  king,  only  a  thou- 
sand-fold more  gorgeous  and  dramatic.  He 
would  appear  enthroned  amidst  the  splendid 
clouds  of  sunrise,  a  hero  more  of  heaven  than 
of  earth,  a  supreme,  magnificent  archangel. 
They  had  looked  for  one  with  such  counte- 
nance as  the  sun  shineth  in  his  strength,  with 
hair  as  white  as  snow,  and  eyes  like  a  flame  of 
fire,  and  a  voice  deep  and  thunderous  as  the 
sound  of  many  waters,  holding  the  stars  in  his 
right  hand.  He  would  come,  they  imagined,  in 
glorious  majesty,  as  St.  John  saw  him  in  the 
Revelation. 

And  when  he  came,  looking  like  any  other 
man,  only  not  half  so  well  dressed  as  many, 
not  rich,  not  politically  influential,  not  ac- 
quainted with   kings'   palaces,  not  learned  in 


THE   GOSPEL  AND   POVERTY.  49 

the  ostentatious  learning  of  the  schools,  walk- 
ing about  the  streets  and  talking  to  the  com- 
monest people  in  simple  language  such  as  they 
could  understand,  it  is  not  strange  that  people 
wondered,  and  asked  questions,  and  doubted. 

Men  and  women  were  as  blind  in  those  days 
as  they  are  now.  The  Lord  Christ  comes  and 
stands  beside  us,  and  we  are  looking  so  hard 
into  the  clouds  that  we  do  not  see  him.  He 
speaks  to  us,  but  we  are  so  busy  debating  about 
him  that  we  do  not  listen.  Every  call  of  need 
is  his  voice :  he  has  told  us  that  plainly  enough. 
The  man  whom  we  pass  in  the  street,  with  the 
sad  face  and  the  shabby  coat,  with  his  idle  hands 
thrust  into  his  empty  pockets,  looking  for  work, 
and  going  hungry  till  he  finds  it,  —  who  is  he  ? 
We  do  not  recognize  him  ;  he  is  not  one  of  our 
acquaintance.  We  are  as  dull-sighted  as  the  old 
scribes.  For  here  to-day,  in  these  streets,  Jesus 
of  Nazareth  passeth  by. 

So  John's  disciples  came  with  their  question. 
And  there  was  Jesus,  who  appeals  to  us  to-day 
in  the  person  of  his  needy  brethren,  revealing 
himself  by  his  gracious  ministrations  to  the 
needy.  And  he  gave  them  an  answer,  whereof 
the  text  was  the  last  sentence.  They  desired 
to  be  assured  that  Jesus  was  the  Christ,  and 


60  THE  GOSPEL  AND   POVERTY. 

he  invited  them  to  observe  what  he  was  doing. 
"  Go,"  he  said,  "  and  show  John  again  those 
things  which  ye  do  hear  and  see.  The  blind 
receive  their  sight,  and  the  lame  walk;  the 
lepers  are  cleansed,  and  the  deaf  hear ;  the 
dead  are  raised  up,  and  the  poor  have  the  gos- 
pel preached  to  them.'* 

"  Ye  shall  know  them  by  their  fruits."  Not 
by  any  Latin  label  stuck  into  the  ground  to 
certify  what  sort  of  seed  was  planted  there, 
but  by  the  green  stalk  which  the  seed  pushes 
up  out  of  the  earth,  with  leaves  and  branches, 
with  blossoms  in  their  season,  and  then  with 
fruit.  The  fruit  is  the  only  assurance  that  is 
worth  anything  as  to  the  excellence  of  the  seed. 
If  we  are  Christians  we  will  be  like  Jesus 
Christ.  If  we  speak  as  he  never  spoke,  if  we 
act  as  he  never  acted,  we  are  none  of  his.  The 
Christian  Church  is  Christian  not  by  reason  of 
its  origin,  and  not  in  proportion  to  the  ortho- 
doxy of  its  creed,  but  only  as  it  has  the  same 
purpose  which  Christ  had,  and  can  answer  the 
doubting  questions  of  men  as  he  answered 
them.  What  are  you  doing,  you  Christians, 
that  we  may  see  if  you  deserve  your  name  ? 

Nothing  can  be  plainer  than  that  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  set  the  emphasis  both  of  his  life  and 


THE  GOSPEL   AND    POVERTY.  61 

of  his  teaching  upon  the  practical  side  of  reli- 
gion. He  came  to  minister  to  the  needs  of 
men,  and  he  sent  his  disciples  to  continue 
that  blessed  ministry.  Religion  as  he  taught 
it  was  not  a  ritual,  nor  an  organization,  nor 
a  philosophy,  but  a  life,  and  a  life  crowded 
with  fraternal  deeds.  The  church  of  Jesus 
Christ  is  in  the  world  to  carry  on  that  work 
which  he  was  doing  when  John's  questioning 
disciples  came  to  see  him.  Our  task  is  to 
care  for  the  distressed,  to  comfort  the  sorrow- 
ful, to  open  the  eyes  of  the  blind,  to  make  the 
lame  walk  and  the  deaf  hear,  to  cleanse  the 
lepers.  The  moral  and  spiritual  meaning  of 
these  miracles  is  evident  enough.  We  are  to 
teach,  to  strengthen,  to  uplift.  We  are  to 
concern  ourselves  with  all  the  needs  of  men. 

A  church  which  is  silent,  unresponsive,  un- 
sympathetic, selfish,  and  unhelpful  in  the  pres- 
ence of  distress;  which  is  not  occupied  in 
feeding  the  hungry,  and  clothing  the  naked, 
and  ministering  to  the  sick  and  sorrowful  — 
it  matters  not  how  many  services  are  held 
within  its  sanctuary,  nor  how  many  jewels 
shine  in  the  cross  upon  its  altar,  nor  how 
many  litanies  are  sung,  nor  how  many  prayers 
are  prayed,  nor  how  accurately  orthodox  may 


52  THE   GOSPEL   AND   POVERTY. 

be  the  creed  that  the  people  utter  with  their 
lips  —  that  church  lacks  credentials.  The  one 
chief  sign  by  which  the  genuine  religion  of 
Jesus  Christ  is  known  is  absent.  Such  a 
church  does  not  deserve  the  name  of  Chris- 
tian. It  is  a  sham ;  it  is  a  synagogue  of  Satan. 
God  looks  out  over  his  world,  parting  men  to 
right  and  left,  and  he  puts  that  church  on  the 
left. 

And  any  Christian  in  even  the  busiest,  the 
most  generous,  the  most  Christlike  congrega- 
tion, who  is  but  a  passive  listener,  who  takes 
no  part  in  any  of  this  Christian  ministry,  who 
is  not  himself  doing  any  of  these  good  deeds  — 
he  is  no  Christian. 

The  workers  in  the  organized  industries  of 
any  church  are  but  a  small  minority  of  the 
congregation.  It  is  no  doubt  true  that  many 
of  those  whose  names  are  not  upon  the  rolls  of 
the  parish  societies  are  nevertheless  busy  in 
some  other  kind  of  Christian  service.  But  it  is 
certain  that  in  every  church  there  are  some  who 
are  not  doing  anything.  If  we  were  to  come  to 
them  as  John's  disciples  came  to  Jesus,  and 
observe  their  lives,  taking  note  of  their  good 
deeds,  we  would  bring  back  a  blank  page. 
We  could  not  say  that  they  are   Christians. 


THE  GOSPEL   AND   POVERTY.  53 

Christians?  What  Christian  deeds  are  they 
doing  ?  What  needy  neighbors  are  they  help- 
ing ?  What  contribution  are  they  making 
towards  the  betterment  of  the  community  ? 
What  are  they  for?  Where  is  that  fruit  of 
fraternal  works  which  is  the  only  sign  by 
which  the  Christian  may  infallibly  be  known? 

It  is  notorious,  also,  that  the  giving  of  money 
is  mainly  confined  to  a  few  people.  When 
there  is  a  collection  for  charity  these  good 
givers  are  expected  to  give  largely.  In  every 
emergency  which  needs  money  we  go  to  them, 
to  the  same  men  over  and  over.  It  would  be 
possible  to  write  a  list  of  a  hundred  citizens 
who  are  not  so  very  much  more  wealthy  than 
many  of  their  fellow-citizens,  but  who  give  fifty 
times  where  their  neighbors  give  once.  They 
are  appealed  to  upon  every  possible  occasion, 
and  they  always  respond  to  the  appeal.  Thank 
God  for  those  good  Christian  citizens  ! 

But  what  about  these  other  citizens?  In 
every  church  there  are  these  three  classes  of 
contributors,  —  people  of  large  means,  who  give 
largely ;  people  of  small  means,  who  sometimes 
give  ten  times  as  much  —  as  God  counts  it; 
and  between  the  two  a  great  body  of  people  of 
fair  ability  who  either  give  nothing,  or  give 


64  THE  GOSPEL  AND  POVERTY. 

without  conscience  or  without  thought.  These 
last  are  not  necessarily  mean  people.  They  are 
lacking  in  the  sense  of  personal  responsibility. 
The  call  comes,  but  they  do  not  realize  that  it 
means  them.  The  appeal  is  intended,  they 
think,  for  their  next  neighbor,  and  they  hope 
that  his  response  will  be  both  prompt  and  gen- 
erous. Or  else  they  do  not  think  at  all.  Who- 
ever has  sorted  out  the  coins  of  any  church 
collection  knows  well  enough  how  a  small  pile 
here  and  a  small  pile  there  stand  for  conscience 
and  real  Christian  charity,  and  receive  credit 
in  the  ledgers  of  heaven,  while  whole  handfuls 
of  money  have  no  Christian  meaning  whatever, 
because  they  were  not  given  in  any  Christian 
spirit,  and  have  no  value  up  above. 

But  the  giving  of  money  is  a  part  of  religion. 
It  is  a  kind  of  ministry.  It  is  one  way  in  which 
we  may  help,  as  the  Lord  Christ  would  have  us 
help,  our  needy  brethren.  And  the  call  to  share 
that  which  we  have  with  others  is  addressed  to 
every  one  of  us.  Money  may  be  translated  into 
all  manner  of  service.  It  may  be  made  to  open 
the  eyes  of  the  blind,  to  cleanse  the  lepers,  to 
feed  the  hungry,  to  clothe  the  naked,  to  preach 
the  gospel  to  the  poor. 

That  last  benefaction  includes  all  the  others. 


THE  GOSPEL  AND  POVERTY.  55 

All  that  has  been  said  here  is  vitally  related  to 
it*  "  To  preach  the  gospel  to  the  poor  "  —  we 
think  at  once  of  pulpits  and  sermons ;  but  these 
are  the  least  parts  of  it.  What  is  the  gospel  ? 
It  is  the  good  news  that  God  loves  us.  Jesus 
came  to  make  us  sure  of  that.  God  cares  for 
us.  Tell  it  to  the  poor  !  Let  the  hungry  know 
that  they  are  not  forgotten.  Let  the  destitute 
and  the  distressed  be  assured  of  the  sympathy 
of  God.  These  poor  people  who  live  in  a 
wretched  tenement,  and  have  no  money  with 
which  to  pay  the  rent,  and  no  more  credit  at 
the  grocer's  ;  these  fathers  and  mothers  who 
shiver  in  the  cold  to-day,  and  look  with  despair 
into  the  faces  of  their  hungry  children,  who 
have  no  work  and  no  prospect  of  work  —  what 
do  they  need?  There  are  thousands  of  them 
in  this  Christian  city  —  what  do  they  need? 
They  need  to  have  the  gospel  preached  to  them. 
No  ;  I  do  not  mean  sermons,  nor  any  conven- 
tional religious  exhortation,  nor  prayer-meet- 
ings. I  mean  such  a  plain  assurance  of  the 
love  of  God  that  the  most  desolate  will  hear 
and  understand  and  believe,  and  so  take  heart. 
In  what  language  shall  we  put  this  message  ? 
Here  are  poor  people  who  are  Poles,  and  we 
cannot  speak  Polish;  others  are  Italians,  and 


56  THE  GOSPEL  AND  POVERTY. 

we  are  not  proficient  in  Italian.  How  shall  we 
address  them  ?  In  the  one  universal  language, 
—  in  the  language  of  fraternal  deeds.  A  loaf 
of  bread  is  a  loaf  of  bread  in  every  dialect  which 
is  spoken  by  the  human  race.  And  brotherly 
love  is  brotherly  love  all  the  world  over.  And 
the  love  of  man  is  the  best  interpreter  of  the 
love  of  God.  The  gospel  of  the  fatherhood  of 
God  is  really  preached  only  when  they  who 
listen  lift  up  their  heads,  and  new  hope  and 
new  love  begin  to  grow  in  their  sad  hearts. 
And  no  mere  words  can  effect  that. 

It  is  idle  to  tell  people  that  God  loves 
them  unless  we  ourselves  show  them  the  truth 
of  it  by  loving  them.  It  is  vain  to  tell  the 
poor  that  God  is  their  Father  unless  we  make 
that  plain  to  them  by  being  ourselves  their 
brethren.  God  will  help  them,  we  say  —  such 
is  the  blessed  gospel.  Yes,  but  how?  Not 
out  of  the  clouds,  not  by  any  dramatic  miracle, 
but  by  the  hands  of  us  ordinary  people.  God 
helps  by  sending  us  to  help. 

That  is  how  the  gospel  is  to  be  preached  to 
the  poor.  We  must  go  and  preach  it  by  bring- 
ing hope  into  their  lives  —  giving  them  some 
reason  for  hope ;  and  by  bringing  happiness  into 
their  hearts  —  giving  them  some  good  cause  to 


THE  GOSPEL  AND  POVERTY.  57 

be  happy.  We  must  assure  them  of  the  watch- 
ful, wise,  and  loving  care  of  God  by  making 
that  love  plain  in  our  own  fraternal  provision 
for  their  needs.  Not  by  words  only^  but  by  our 
helping  hands,  must  we  preach  the  gospel  to 
the  poor. 


THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  LABOR 
MOVEMENT. 


What  can  the  church,  as  an  organization, 
do  in  the  labor  movement  ?  At  present  very 
little  ;  first,  for  lack  of  disposition. 

Many  members ,  of  the  church,  are  enthu- 
siastically disposed  toward  the  cause  of  the 
.^  workingman,  but  not  all ;  probably  less  than  a 
majority.  Some  who  hold  back  do  so  from 
interested  motives,  being  themselves  upon  the 
other  side.  A  portion  of  the  employers,  the 
operators,  the  owners,  the '  capitalists,  against 
whom  the  labor  movement  is  directed,  are 
members,  or  at  least  attend  the  services,  of 
the  church.  Dives  belongs  to  the  vestry; 
Mammon  passes  the  alms"  basin.  It  was  nat- 
ural and  easy  for  St.  James  and  some  of  the 
other  writers  of  the  New  Testament  to  preach 
against  the  rich,  because  their  audiences  were 
made  up  almost  entirely  of  the  poor.  Wealth 
in  that  day  was  all  on  the  side  of  the  devil. 
Such  sermons  are  not  common  in  our  pulpits. 

58 


THE  CHURCH  AND  LABOR  MOVEMENT.   59 

The  parable  of  the  camel  vainly  essaying  to 
pass  the  eye  of  the  needle  is  not  often  taken 
as  a  text.  Nor  will  you  hear  a  well-dressed 
congregation  exhorted  either  in  the  words  or 
in  the  spirit  of  this  apostolic  utterance,  '"Go 
too,  now,  ye  rich  men,  weep  and  howl  for  your 
miseries  which  shall  come  upon  you.  NYour 
riches  are  corrupted,  and  your  garments  are 
moth-eaten.  Behold  the  hire  of  your  laborers 
who  have  reaped  down  your  fields,  which  is 
of  you  kept  back  by  fraud,  crieth;  and  the 
cries  of  them  that  have  reaped  are  entered 
into  the  ears  of  the  Lord  of  Sabbaoth." 

Some,  of  Course,  will  be  prompt  to  say  that 
we  do  not  preach  after  that  fashion  because  we 
fear  that  such  a  sermon  would  affect  our  sal- 
ary. But,  while  I  am  not  prepaTed  to  deny 
that  the  clerical  mind  works  in  some  cases 
quite  like  the  lay  mind,  I  ,am  altogether  con- 
vinced that  the  chief  reason  why  the  clergy 
of  the  present  day  do  not  more  often  shake 
their  rhetorical  fists  in  the  faces  of  the  rich  is 
because  they  do  not  feel  that  the  rich  deserve 
that  sort  of  treatment.  Most  parsons  are  ac- 
quainted with  a  great  many  people  of  all  con- 
ditions, rich  and  poor,  employers  and  employed  ; 
and  they  know  perfectly  well  that  the  figures 


60      THE  CHURCH   AND  LABOR  MOVEMENT. 

of  a  man's  income  do  not  at  all  show  where 
he  stands  upon  the  scale  of  sanctity.  You 
cannot  persuade  them  by  any  socialistic  argu- 
ments that  the  poor  are  all  saints,  and  that  the 
rich  are  all  sinners.  They  know  better.  They 
know  that  the  bad  and  the  good  are  closely 
intertangled  in  this  queer  world.  They  are 
personally  acquainted  with  labor  leaders  who 
are  wholly  given  over  to  selfishness,  and  with 
capitalists  who  are  altogether  devoted  to  the 
good  of  others. 

Moreover,  it  ought  to  be  kept  in  mind  that 
in  the  present  condition  of  things,  when  the 
capitalist  goes  to  church  and  the  workingman 
stays  away,  the  parson  naturally  knows  the 
employer  better  than  the  men  whom  he  em- 
ploys. And  personal  acquaintance  counts  for 
much  in  the  formation  of  our  judgments.  I 
am  surprised  that  there  is  so  much  disposition 
toward  the  cause  of  labor  as  there  is  in  the 
'  church,  where  so  many  of  the  leading  laymen 
are  men  of  wealth,  and  where  the  clergy  are 
so  naturally  turned  for  counsel  toward  their 
direction. 

In  addition  to  these  members  of  the  church, 
who  are  thus  in  the  position  of  partisans  in 
this  matter,  and  who  can  hardly  help  looking 


THE  CHURCH  AND  LABOR  MOVEMENT.   61 

at  things  from  their  own  point  of  view,  there 
are  many  others  who  are  selfishly  satisfied. 
Even  in  the  church  not  all  are  Christians. 
The  devil  always  gets  in  everywhere,  —  into 
the  church,  into  the  labor  unions,  —  and  hin- 
ders our  progress  toward  the  right. 

Still  others  have  a  narrow  notion  of  the  pur- 
pose of  the  church.  It  is  such  a  spiritual  so-' 
ciety,  as  they  regard  it,  that  it  is  quite  in  the 
air,  barely  touching  this  profane  planet,  look- 
ing ever  into  the  sky.  The  church  is  organ- 
ized not  for  interference  in  the  labor  movement 
or  in  any  other  mundane  matter,  but  for  the 
saying  of  litanies,  for  the  offering  of  adoration, 
and  for  the  saving  of  the  soul.  The  clergy 
are  to  preach  on  sacrifices,  but  they  may  not 
mention  that  form  of  sacrifice  which  makes  a 
man  devote  himself  to  the  interests  of  the 
town  he  lives  in.  Jerusalem  may  be  named 
in  sermons,  but  not  Boston.  The  preacher  may 
praise  the  golden  pavements  of  the  celestial 
streets,  but  he  is  out  of  his  province  if  he 
ventures  to  criticise  the  unclean  thoroughfare 
beside  his  door. 

This  sharp  and   foolish  distinction  between 

^the  sacred  and  the  secular,  which  cannot  stand 

in  the  light  of  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ,  and 


62  THE  CHURCH  AKD  LABOR  MOVEMENT. 

which  is  disappearing  as  we  get  closer  to  him 
and  look  into  the  world  as  he  did,  still  holds 
among  some,  and  hinders  sympathy. 

An  organization  is  evidently  made  up  only 
of  the  people  who  comprise  it.  The  church, 
as  an  organization,  contains  these  three  kinds 
of  people,  —  those  who  thus  limit  the  functions 
of  the  church  and  stand  aloof  from  any  com- 
bination between  religion  and  economics ;  those 
who  are  well  off  themselves  and  do  not  care, 
preferring  the  present  conditions  for  selfish  rea- 
sons; and  those  who  are  not  prepared  to  go 
very  far  in  the  labor  movement  because  they 
see.  the  other  side,  men  of  wealth,  careful  and 
conservative,  knowing  their  own  business  some- 
times better  than  we  do.  What  we  want  is 
the  real  truth;  what  we  seek  to  know  is  not 
things  as  they  ought  to  be,  but  as  they  are. 
The  church  as  an  organization  can  at  present 
do  little  in  the  labor  movement  for  lack  of 
disposition. 

Secondly,  for  lack  of  knowledge. 

It  is  not  unlikely  that  a  unanimous  church 
enthusiasm  for  the  cause  of  labor  would  just 
now  do  more  harm  than  good.  For  the  great, 
good-hearted  church,  having  its  eyes  open  to 
the  evils  that  beset  the  world  of  industry,  and 


THE  CHURCH  AND  LABOR  MOVEMENT.   63 

being  vigorously  disposed  to  do  something, 
would  probably  do  something  rash,  foolish,  and 
mistaken.  The  conditions  are  exceedingly  com- 
plicated. Those  who  imagine  that  they  are 
simple,  and  may  be  remedied  by  the  applica- 
tion of  this  or  that  economic  nostrum,  do  not 
know  what  they  are  talking  about.  The  truth 
is,  that  nobody  knows  what  ought  to  be  done. 
That  is  the  most  discouraging  feature  in  the 
whole  situation.  The  times  are  evidently  out 
of  joint,  but  the  fracture  is  such  a  complicated 
one  that  our  wisest  surgeons  do  not  know  how 
to  treat  it. 

In  this  condition  of  things  we  may  well  pray 
to  be  delivered  from  the  parsons.  It  is  within 
easy  memory,  for  example,  how  the  parsons 
dealt  with  the  scientific  difficulties  that  were 
involved  in  that  great  readjustment  of  ideas* 
caused  by  the  teaching  of  the  doctrine  of  evo- 
lution. Again  and  again  the  whole  matter  was 
disposed  of  in  a  twenty  minutes'  sermon. 

Darwin's  epoch-making  book,  the  "  Origin  of 
Species,"  begins  with  this  significant  para- 
graph: "When  on  board  H.  M.  S.  Beagle  as 
naturalist,  I  was  much  struck  with  certain  facts 
in  the  distribution  of  the  organic  beings  inhab- 
iting South  America,  and  in  the  geological  re- 


64   THE  CHURCH  AND  LABOR  MOVEMENT. 

lations  of  the  present  to  the  past  inhabitants 
of  that  continent.  These  facts,  as  will  be  seen 
in  the  latter  chapter  of  this  volume,  seemed  to 
throw  some  light  on  the  origin  of  species  — 
that  mystery  of  mysteries,  as  it  has  been  called 
by  one  of  our  greatest  philosophers.  On  my 
return  home,  it  occurred  to  me,  in  183T,  that 
something  might  perhaps  be  made  out  on  this 
question  by  patiently  accumulating  and  reflect- 
ing on  all  sorts  of  facts  which  could  possibly 
have  any  bearing  on  it.  After  five  years'  work 
I  allowed  myself  to  speculate  on  the  subject, 
and  drew  up  some  short  notes ;  these  I  enlarged 
in  1844  into  a  sketch  of  the  conclusions  which 
then  seemed  to  me  probable ;  from  that  period 
to  the  present  day  I  have  steadily  pursued  the 
same  object.  I  hope  that  I  may  be  excused  for 
these  personal  details,  as  I  give  them  to  show 
that  I  have  not  been  hasty  in  coming  to  a  con- 
clusion. My  ^  work  is  now  (1859)  nearly  fin- 
ished ;  but  as  it  will  take  me  many  more  years 
to  complete  it,  and  as  my  health  is  far  fro^ 
strong,  I  have  been  induced  to  publish  this 
abstract." 

The  results  of  these  twenty-two  years  of  pa- 
tient and  painstaking  research  were  completely 
disproved  again  and  again  to  the  complete  satis- 


THE   CHURCH   AND   LABOR   MOVEMENT.      65 

faction  of  the  preacher,  by  the  youngest  gradu- 
ates of  the  theological  schools,  and  by  other 
men  also,  who  were  old  enough  to  know  better. 
One  dreads  to  have  another  problem,  equally 
complicated,  equally  demanding  time  and  study 
and  knowledge  of  details,  set  forth  for  discus- 
sion in  ecclesiastical  conventions.  Fortunately 
the  disposition  to  discuss  it  is  lacking,  else 
there  is  no  predicting  the  will-o'-the-wisp  mil- 
lenniums into  which  we  might  be  persuaded. 
The  sermons  that  are  occasionally  preached 
upon  the  labor  movement,  taking  strikes  for 
texts,  are  such  as  to  fill  all  intelligent  labor 
leaders  and  all  intelligent  employees  alike  with 
blank  despair.  The  brethren  speak  unadvisedly 
with  their  lips. 

Indeed,  if  the  church  will  consult  the  ex- 
ample of  its  Founder,  it  will  hesitate,  even  with 
a  fair  equipment  of  knowledge,  to  deal  with  the 
labor  question  in  a  detailed  way.  We  wish  to 
know  what  is  the  best  service  that  the  church 
can  render;  and  that  best  service,  judged  by 
the  example  of  Jesus  Christ,  is  the  setting 
forth,^ot  of  regulations,  but  of  eternal  princi- 
ples. The  instance  is  a  familiar  one,  where  the 
two  brethren  came  to  him  and  desired  that  he 
would  decide  a  dispute  in  which  they  were 


66   THE  CHURCH  AND  LABOR  MOVEMENT. 

engaged  over  their  father's  will.  They  were 
dividing  the  estate  between  them.  And  one 
said,  "  This  much  belongs  to  me ;  "  and  the 
other  answered,  "  No,  a  part  of  that  is  mine ; 
you  take  too  much."  And  they  asked  Jesus 
to  be  their  arbitrator.  You  remember  that  he 
immediately  declined.  He  refused  to  look  at 
the  account  books,  to  consult  the  will,  or  to 
inspect  the  ground.  "Take  heed,"  he  said, 
"and  beware  of  covetousness,  for  a  man's  life 
consisteth  not  in  the  abundance  of  the  things 
which  he  possesseth."  That  is,  he  set  forth 
this  deep  and  abiding  principle,  which,  taken 
into  the  hearts  of  the  disputants,  would  settle 
the  dispute  forever.  We  can  see  evidently 
enough  that  no  interference  in  the  discussion 
would  have  finally  settled  the  fraternal  variance. 
These  brethren  would  not  agree  by  reason  of 
any  argument  based  on  addition  or  subtraction, 
on  measurements  or  valuations.  The  trouble 
lay  deeper  than  these  surface  matters.  And 
the  trouble  to-day  lies  deeper  far  than  an  ad- 
justment of  the  scale  of  wages. 

The  church  does  not,  indeed,  know  enough 
about  the  details  of  the  situation  to  speak  with 
intelligence ;  but  if  the  church  were  ten  times 
wiser,  the  best  voice  would  be  one,  not  of  po- 


THE  CHURCH  AND  LABOR  MOVEMENT.   67 

litical  economy,  but  of  religion.  What  we  ask 
of  the  church,  speaking  in  her  representative 
assemblies,  or  from  her  pulpits,  is  inspiration, 
uplift,  eternal  principles,  guidance  of  motives, 
the  strengthening  of  a  right  spirit.  A  church 
which  is  set  against  the  workingman,  arguing 
as  a  partisan  advocate  in  refutation  of  his  cause, 
lacking  in  sympathy  with  his  needs  and  his  pur- 
poses, is  of  the  devil.  It  is  a  synagogue  of 
Satan.  But  I  do  not  know  where  such  a  church 
is  to  be  found. 

True  there  are  occasional  utterances  and 
silences  which  are  discouraging.  That  the  par- 
sons in  a  town  where  the  street-car  men  were 
working  seventeen  hours  a  day  without  any 
clerical  complaint  should  rise  up  in  almost 
unanimous  objection  against  the  opening  of  a 
public  conservatory  of  God's  flowers  on  the 
Lord's  Day  is  disheartening  to  one  who  wishes 
to  be  loyal  to  the  church.  That  owners  of  un- 
sanitary tenements  should  be  able  to  sit  comfort- 
ably cushioned  in  the  house  of  God,  and  listen 
serenely  and  somnolently  to  the  preacher's  ser- 
mon, Sunday  after  Sunday,  shows  that  the 
preacher  is  making  a  mistake  as  to  the  meaning 
and  application  of  the  Christian  religion.  That 
men  and  women  should  find  it  possible  to  carry 


68   THE  CHURCH  AND  LABOR  MOVEMENT. 

their  selfish  and  unbrotherly  hearts  to  church 
and  bring  them  away  again  untouched,  is  evi- 
dence of  something  wrong.  But  this  wrong  is 
not  to  be  righted  by  sermons  upon  the  details 
of  sanitation,  or  upon  the  better  regulation  of 
industry,  but  by  the  declaring,  and  impressing, 
and  emphasizing,  and  reiterating  over  and  over, 
so  that  nobody  can  mistake  it,  that  no  man 
can  possibly  be  a  Christian  without  behaving 
like  a  Christian,  and  that  he  alone  lives  like 
a  Christian  who  speaks  and  acts  as  Christ  did ; 
friendly  as  he  was,  brotherly  as  he  was,  loving 
as  he  was,  wishing  not  to  be  ministered  unto, 
but  to  minister,  and  to  give  even  his  life  for 
others. 

Principles,  rather  than  details,  are  the  prov- 
ince of  the  church.  The  clergy  are  of  more 
use  in  the  labor  movement  as  inspirers  than  as 
instructors ;  partly  because  principles  go  deeper 
into  the  heart  of  things ;  partly  because  people 
are  more  likely  to  heed  the  applications  which 
they  are  left  to  make  for  themselves ;  partly 
because  no  man  can  speak  with  wisdom  unless 
he  knows  what  he  is  talking  about.  Yet  it  is 
the  duty  of  the  church  to  bring  heaven  and 
earth  into  close  contact ;  to  speak  not  into  the 
air,  but  into  the  individual  ears  of  particular 


THE  CHUBCH  AND  LABOR  MOVEMENT.   69 

people ;  to  make  sure  that  its  eternal  principles 
are  understood  in  their  concrete  relations  by 
those  whose  lives  they  touch,  and,  wherever  it  has 
certain  knowledge,  there  to  speak  with  emphasis. 

The  principle  that  every  man  is  his  brother's 
keeper  is  one  which  falls  quite  within  the  limits 
of  the  responsibility  of  the  teaching  church. 
And  the  obvious  inference  from  that  principle 
—  that  no  man  has  a  right  to  profit  by  his 
neighbor's  disadvantage — is  an  excellent  theme 
for  a  Christian  sermon.  And  the  cases  which 
that  inference  concerns, —  the  carrying  on  or 
encouraging  of  a  business  which  depends  upon 
the  payment  of  starvation  wages,  or  upon  the 
doing  of  the  work  under  unsanitary  conditions ; 
the  taking  of  rent  from  a  tenement  house  which 
is  so  constructed  or  so  crowded  as  to  make 
Christian  living,  not  to  say  decent  living, 
impossible;  and,  in  general,  the  receiving  of 
money  without  knowing  how  it  was  earned,  — 
these  are  good  things  to  preach  about. 

The  kindred  principle  that  every  man  who 
lives  is  a  son  of  God,  and  the  brother  —  not  the 
slave  or  tool  —  of  even  his  most  prosperous 
neighbor,  comes  also  into  the  proper  scope  of 
the  Christian  pulpit.  And  the  preacher  is  fruit- 
fully occupied  who  draws  out  the  evident  con- 


70   THE  CHURCH  AND  LABOR  MOVEMENT. 

sequences  of  that  principle,  that  every  man  has 
a  right  to  that  which  tends  toward  his  best  life, 
and  may  not  by  any  Christian  be  ground  down 
to  such  short  wages  and  long  hours  as  to  de- 
prive him  of  a  chance  to  be  anything  better  than 
an  animal  —  these  inferences,  which  carry  the 
necessity  and  the  righteousness  of  trades'  union- 
ism along  with  them,  ought  to  be  preached  by 
the  Christian  church.  The  church  knows 
enough  already  for  such  teaching,  and  has  no 
need  to  wait  for  further  economic  light. 

It  is  in  the  application  of  these  truths  to  indi- 
vidual misdemeanors  that  the  church  is  in  peril 
of  error.  The  clergy,  by  the  mere  fact  of  their 
seclusion  from  the  industrial  world,  are  inevi- 
tably ignorant.  Arguments  based  upon  the 
statements  of  newspapers  are  liable  to  serious 
fallacy.  Ideas  gained  by  reading  books  rather 
than  by  knowing  men  are  open  to  mistake. 
The  parsons  would  best  confine  themselves  to 
principles.  The  church,  as  an  organization,  is 
not  prepared  at  present  to  do  much  in  detail  in 
the  labor  movement,  for  lack  of  knowledge. 

You  may  remember  against  me  the  story  of 
the  herald  who  stood  by  the  city  gate  when  the 
king  entered,  and  informed  him  that  the  mayor 
was   unfortunately  unable    to    meet    him,   for 


THE  CHUKCH  AND  LABOR  MOVEMENT.   71 

seventeen  reasons,  the  first  of  them  being  that 
the  mayor  was  dead.  The  king  dispensed  the 
herald  from  reciting  the  other  sixteen.  Now 
that  I  have  said  already  that  the  church  is 
detained  by  lack  of  disposition  and  by  lack  of 
knowledge  from  meeting  the  labor  movement 
with  extended  hand  of  welcome,  it  may  be 
thought  unnecessary  that  I  should  add  a  third 
reason  to  the  other  two.  I  will  venture,  how- 
ever, to  suggest  such  a  third  reason  in  the 
church's  lack  of  utterance.  If  the  church,  as 
an,  organization,  had  an  ideal  disposition  toward 
the  labor  movement,  and  a  sufficient  knowl- 
edge, it  would  be  still  hindered  by  the  fact 
that  it  has  no  voice.  I  mean  that  the  church, 
except  in  a  most  imperfect  and  fragmentary 
way,  is  not  able  in  these  days  to  say  anything. 
To  this  has  our  spirit  of  unhappy  separation 
brought  us. 

There  was  a  time  when  the  church,  gathered 
in  a  representative  assembly,  was  able  to  express 
the  great  truths  of  the  Christian  faith,  so  that 
everybody  could  hear  and  understand.  The 
time  may  come  when  a  united  church,  meeting 
again  in  a  convention  which  shall  represent 
Christianity  rather  than  partisanship,  shall  be 
able  to  utter  forth  the  great  truths  of  Christian 


72     THE  CHURCH  AND  LABOR  MOVEMENT. 

morality,  so  that  they  shall  be  heard  and 
heeded. 

But  at  present  there  is  a  Roman  Catholic 
Church  and  a  Presbyterian  Church  and  an 
Episcopal  Church,  each  speaking  for  certain 
numbers  of  Christians,  for  a  fragment  of  the 
community,  representing  divisions,  strife,  weak- 
ness. And  outside  is  the  admirably  disciplined 
army  of  the  devil  —  the  allied  forces  of  intem- 
perance, of  impurity,  of  corrupt  politics,  of 
fraud  and  falsehood,  of  theft  and  murder.  And 
the  Christian  church  stands  in  the  midst  of  these 
abominations,  reads  the  morning  newspaper  sor- 
rowfully and  helplessly,  and  accomplishes  — 
next  to  nothing.  Here  and  there  some  good 
man  Inakes  an  assault  upon  the  satanic  forces, 
running  out  alone  in  front  of  the  Christian 
ranks;  but  his  brethren  behind  throw  stones 
at  him  to  bring  him  back,  and  the  rest  of  us 
preach  sermons  upon  interesting  texts  touching 
the  remote  sins  of  Israel,  and  meet  in  conven- 
tions to  debate  rubrics  and  pass  canons. 

Not  because  we  are  wholly  deaf  to  the  great 
and  bitter  cry  of  our  brethren  about  us,  but 
because  we  do  not  see  what  we  can  do.  We 
are  divided  among  ourselves.  We  are  in  no 
condition  to  go  into  a  real  battle. 


THE  CHURCH  AND  LABOR  MOVEMENT.   73 

One  may  easily  dream  of  a  united  church, 
gathering  into  its  one  fold  all  the  people  in  the 
community  who  are  on  the  side  of  righteous- 
ness, and  insisting  that  the  right  and  not  the 
wrong  shall  prevail  among  us.  There  is  noth- 
ing which  such  an  organization  could  not 
accomplish. 

All  the  temperance  societies,  all  the  law  and 
order  leagues,  all  the  white-cross  guilds,  all  the 
city  clubs  and  good-citizenship  associations, 
all  the  labor  unions,  under  one  banner,  Christ's 
banner,  against  the  enemies  of  the  country,  of 
the  city,  and  of  the  soul  —  who  can  doubt  the 
outcome  of  such  a  combination?  Certain  it  is 
that  the  church,  united  and  converted,  can  over- 
come the  world.  Of  old  it  stood  on  the  side 
of  the  people  against  the  tyranny  of  kings;  it 
may  again  be  the  people's  advocate  against  the 
tyranny  of  other  corrupters  and  oppressors. 

At  present,  however,  partly  from  lack  of  dis- 
position, partly  from  lack  of  knowledge,  and 
partly  from  lack  of  utterance,  the  church  as  an 
organization  can  do  little  in  the  labor  move- 
ment. And  yet  the  church,  possessed  of  dis- 
position, of  knowledge,  and  of  utterance,  could 
bring  in  the  industrial  millennium  to-morrow. 
The   church  is    beyond    comparison   the   most 


74      THE   CHURCH   AND   LABOR   MOVEMENT. 

powerful  engine  which  can  be  brought  into 
action  in  any  cause.  In  no  other  way  can  a 
truth,  a  purpose,  a  reform,  be  brought  so  closely 
into  contact  with  so  many  people.  The  minis- 
try of  a  whole  nation,  teaching  definite  instead 
of  vague  and  general  religion,  applying  Christi- 
anity to  the  concrete  lives  of  actual  present 
people,  enforcing  particular  and  detailed  better- 
ment, and  setting  forth  these  matters  two  or 
three  times  every  week  everywhere,  could  do 
almost  anything.  The  vantage  ground  of  the 
pulpit  and  the  parish  is  not  adequately  under- 
stood. 

The  question,  then,  may  need  reversal.  Might 
we  not  cease  to  ask  what  the  church,  as  an  or- 
ganization, can  do  in  the  labor  movement,  and 
consider  what  the  trades'  unions,  as  an  organi- 
zation, can  do  in  the  church?  The  church  is 
open  to  capture ;  the  leaders  of  the  labor  move- 
ment may  take  possession  of  it.  What  we  lack 
in  disposition,  knowledge,  and  utterance,  these, 
the  men  who  have  this  cause  at  heart,  can  give 
us  if  they  will.  The  church,  as  represented  by 
its  ministers,  is  hospitable  to  the  truth,  inter- 
ested unusually  at  present  in  social  and  eco- 
nomic questions,  honestly  desirous  to  do  right 
and  to  serve  all  righteous  causes,  and  tender- 


THE  CHURCH  AND  LABOR  MOVEMENT.      75 

hearted  to  a  fault.  We  need  better  acquaint- 
ance with  the  men  and  with  the  ideas  of  the 
labor  movement.  So  long  as  the  representa- 
tives of  this  movement  and  their  followers  stand 
apart  from  the  church,  antagonistic  to  it,  suspi- 
cious of  it,  just  so  long  must  the  church  be  im- 
peded in  its  progress  toward  right  thinking  and 
right  acting. 

The  present  duty  is  not  of  an  organization, 
but  of  the  individuals  who  compose  it,  or  who 
ought  to  compose  it.  Every  man  and  woman 
who  desires  to  follow  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  to  work  and  speak  in  his  spirit,  must  put 
the  emphasis  of  action  where  he  put  it,  not 
upon  the  church,  not  upon  the  creed,  but  upon 
character,  and  upon  character  not  personal 
alone,  but  social.  Jesus  thought  not  of  him- 
self. His  thought  and  care  and  effort  were 
for  the  people  about  him,  always. 

Much  which  we  value  he  utterly  despised. 
To  be  brotherly  he  accounted  the  supreme 
virtue  of  a  man,  —  to  care  for  those  who  were 
in  trouble,  to  right  those  who  suffered  wrong, 
to  lift  up  those  who  were  down.  Not  to  be  min- 
istered unto,  but  to  minister — it  was  for  this  he 
came;  and  that  these  things  and  such  as  these 
might    be    done    he    established    the    church. 


76      THE  CHURCH  AND  LABOR  MOVEMENT. 

Nobody  is  a  Christian  who  looks  with  indiffer- 
ence upon  the  oppression,  the  robbery,  the  mani- 
fold and  aggravated  iniquity,  against  which  the 
labor  movement  is  a  righteous  revolt. 

The  Christian  will  inform  himself,  as  best 
he  can,  regarding  this  most  significant  of  all 
modern  discontents.  He  will  read  and  study, 
that  he  may  be  intelligent  about  it.  He  will 
account  it  of  more  consequence  to  be  informed 
regarding  the  history  of  the  rebellion  of  the 
workingmen  against  their  modern  bondage  than 
to  be  learned  in  all  the  chapters  and  the  verses 
which  describe  the  escape  of  the  Hebrew  slaves 
out  of  the  bondage  of  Egypt.  God  is  in  his 
world  to-day  as  much  as  he  ever  was.  The 
morning  paper  records  his  administration  of  this 
planet  yesterday  in  as  true  a  sense  as  the  Old 
Testament  tells  us  what  he  did  three  thousand 
years  ago.  He  who  believes  in  God  and  looks 
brotherly  towards  his  neighbors,  as  Jesus  did, 
will  not  be  satisfied  to  remain  in  ignorance. 
He  will  both  learn  and  teach. 

And  by  and  by,  with  the  growth  of  dis- 
position and  of  knowledge,  must  come  utter- 
ance. The  church  is  nothing  more  than  all 
of  us.  When  we  all  are  sympathetically  and 
intelligently  interested  in  the  labor  movement 


THE  CHURCH  AND  LABOR  MOVEMENT.   77 

the  church  will  be.  And  then  the  church 
must  speak.  Christian  unity  is  likely  to  come 
about  not  by  agreement  first  in  polity  or  creed, 
but  by  co-operation,  by  working  side  by  side  in 
the  labor  movement  and  in  every  other  move- 
ment for  the  general  good. 

Whenever  any  man  or  woman  anywhere 
enlists  with  enthusiasm  and  earnestness  in  any 
righteous  cause,  the  millennium,  the  day  of 
blessed  freedom,  the  kingdom  of  God  and  his 
righteousness,  comes  a  step  nearer. 


BUSINESS   AND   RELIGION. 


Church  attendance  may  or  may  not  be  an 
evidence  of  Christianity.  All  good  people 
ought,  indeed,  to  go  to  church.  According 
as  they  are  present  or  absent,  we  may  guess 
at  their  goodness  or  their  lack  of  goodness. 
Church-going  is  a  fairly  accurate  thermometer 
of  religion ;  it  indicates  degrees  of  spiritual 
heat  and  cold.  But  it  is  by  no  means  an 
infallible  thermometer.  Christianity  is  not 
proved  by  church  attendance. 

Even  church  membership  may  or  may  not  be 
an  evidence  of  Christianity.  All  good  people 
ought  to  be  members  of  the  Christian  Church. 
There  is  something  incongruous  in  the  position 
of  honest  and  earnest  men  and  women  who 
wish  to  know  the  highest  truth  and  aspire  to 
live  the  worthiest  life,  and  yet  remain  outside 
the  Christian  society.  They  ought  to  join  the 
church  for  their  own  sake  —  to  get  good ;  and 
for  the  sake  of  others  —  to  do  good.  Member- 
ship in  the  Christian  church  I  hold  to  be  the 

78 


BUSINESS  AND   BELIGION.  79 

duty  of  all  good  citizens.  The  good  citizens 
who  stand  aloof  do  not  understand  what  the 
church  is  and  is  for,  being  deceived  some- 
times by  our  own  mistaken  definitions,  or 
deterred  by  our  unchristian  tests  and  barriers. 
Yet  I  know  some  most  excellent  Christians 
who  are  not  members  of  the  church ;  and  I  am 
informed  by  business  men  that  the  fact  of 
church  membership  is  not  by  any  means  a 
guaranty  in  the  business  world  of  commercial 
integrity ;  which  means  that  a  man  may  be  a 
member  of  the  Christian  church  and  yet  not 
be  a  Christian. 

That  which  is  true  of  church  attendance  and 
of  church  membership  is  equally  true  of  church 
orthodoxy.  John  Wesley  said,  in  his  strong 
way,  that  a  man  may  be  as  orthodox  as  the 
devil  —  and  as  wicked.  Our  Lord  drew  a  clear 
distinction  between  two  kinds  of  blasphemy, 
one  of  which  may  be  forgiven,  but  the  other 
never  forgiven.  Blasphemy  against  the  Son 
of  man,  he  said,  is  capable  of  pardon;  but 
blasphemy  against  the  Holy  Ghost  "  hath  never 
forgiveness,"  even  in  the  world  to  come.  What 
is  the  difference  ?  Blasphemy  against  the  Son 
of  man  is  theological  heresy.  Whoever  is  ac- 
quainted with  the  annals  of  controversy  knows 


80  BUSINESS  AND  RELIGION. 

how  heresy  has  centred  about  the  doctrines  of 
the  Trinity,  of  the  Incarnation,  and  of  the 
Atonement;  that  is,  about  the  person  of  the  Son 
of  man.  Jesus  says  that  all  that  kind  of  heresy 
may  be  pardoned ;  that  a  man  may  be  the  most 
mistaken  of  theological  heretics  and  yet  be  a 
Christian.  But  blasphemy  against  the  Holy 
Ghost  is  moral  heresy.  It  is  the  sin  of  the  man 
who  calls  wrong  right,  and  right  wrong;  who 
calls  darkness  light,  and  light  darkness;  who 
persistently,  and  with  rejoicing,  disobeys  the 
plain  command  of  his  own  conscience.  There 
is  no  forgiveness,  Jesus  says,  for  him  who  con- 
tinues in  that  attitude  towards  God,  neither  in 
this  world  nor  in  the  next.  The  most  perni- 
cious of  all  heresy  is  that  which  contradicts  the 
law  of  righteousness.  No  amount  of  theological 
orthodoxy  makes  a  man  a  Christian. 

Thus  we  may  take  these  three  significant 
items,  —  church  attendance,  church  membership, 
and  church  orthodoxy,  —  and  add  them  all  to- 
gether, and  yet  not  arrive  at  the  definition  of  a 
Christian.  The  real  test  of  Christianity  is  not 
a  man's  behavior  on  Sunday,  but  his  attitude 
and  disposition  during  the  days  that  follow ;  it 
is  six  times  more  important  to  be  a  good  Chris- 
tian on  week-days  than  on  Sunday.     The  real 


BUSINESS  AND  RELIGION.  81 

test  of  Christianity  is  not  a  man's  membership 
in  the  church,  but  his  membership  in  society, 
his  place  in  the  estimation  of  good  people  who 
come  into  business  relations  with  him.  The 
real  test  of  Christianity  is  not  the  creed,  but 
the  deed.     It  is  the  life  that  tells. 

But  we  live  in  contact  with  other  people. 
Human  life  is  to  be  judged  largely  by  our  fulfil- 
ment of  our  duty  towards  our  neighbor.  Most 
men  spend  eight  or  ten  hours  every  day  in  close 
touch  with  other  men,  engaged  in  the  transac- 
tions of  the  world  of  industry  and  trade.  So 
that,  for  a  man,  it  is  pre-eminently  essential  that 
he  should  be  a  Christian  in  his  business. 

At  the  foundation  of  Christianity  in  business 
are  certain  elementary  truths.  One  of  them  is 
that  the  Christian  will  not  lie.  There  is  no 
place  in  the  Christian  church  for  a  liar,  unless 
he  is  a  reformed  liar.  St.  John,  in  his  descrip- 
tion of  the  holy  city,  has  shown  where  he  who 
loveth  and  maketh  a  lie  belongs  —  "  without," 
he  says,  in  the  company  of  other  like  offenders 
against  God. 

Lying  is  any  kind  of  tampering  with  truth  to 
our  neighbor's  disadvantage.  Misrepresentation 
of  the  quality  of  goods  is  lying.  Evasion  of 
contracts  is  lying.    The  breaking  of  agreements 


82  BUSINESS  AND  RELIGION. 

because  they  have  not  been  written  down  on 
paper  is  lying.  He  who  takes  the  opportunity 
of  his  customer's  ignorance  lies  to  him.  He 
who  makes  promises  which  he  does  not  purpose 
to  perform  tells  lies. 

A  second  elementary  truth  is  that  the  Chris- 
tian will  not  steal.  There  is  no  room  in  the 
Christian  church  for  a  thief,  unless  he  is  a 
penitent  thief. 

Stealing  is  any  process  by  which  a  man  gets 
something  for  nothing.  The  workman  who 
takes  his  employer's  wage  for  a  scant  day  is  a 
thief.  The  clerk  who  wastes  his  employer's 
time  steals.  The  rule  which  the  Christian  re- 
ligion lays  down  for  service  is  that  every  em- 
ployer shall  be  regarded  as  if  he  were  the  Lord 
Christ  himself.  Every  real  Christian  serves 
in  that  spirit.  Gambling  is  one  of  the  meanest 
kinds  of  stealing:  the  curse  of  Cain  rests  on 
every  dollar  of  the  gambler's  money.  Some 
speculation,  I  am  told,  has  theft  mixed  up  with 
it.  Dealing  in  futures  and  options,  so  that  one 
buys  what  one  never  expects  to  have  delivered, 
and  sells  what  one  has  never  owned,  cannot  be 
classed  as  honest  business.  Not  everything 
which  is  according  to  the  law  of  the  land  is 
according  to  the  law  of  God.     Suits  that  are 


BUSINESS   AND   RELIGION.  83 

won  by  legal  quibbles,  or  delayed  by  legal 
obstacles  which  hinder  justice,  are  but  so  much 
theft  protected  by  law.  Every  way  in  which  a 
man  is  defrauded  is  theft.  No  matter  how  his 
rights  are  wrested  from  him,  no  matter  how  his 
money  is  abstracted  from  his  safe ;  it  may  be  by 
a  set  of  burglar's  tools ;  it  may  be  by  an  attor- 
ney's clever  brief — the  people  who  are  concerned 
in  the  operation  are  but  thieves  and  robbers. 

This,  however,  is  all  upon  the  outside  of  the 
subject.  This  would  be  true  if  we  were  con- 
sidering the  Mohammedan  in  business,  or  the 
Buddhist  in  business,  instead  of  the  Christian 
in  business.  Everybody  agrees  to  this.  The 
man  who  lies,  the  man  who  steals,  knows  what 
God  thinks  of  him.  It  is  not  necessary  to  say 
much  to  him.  We  must  get  nearer  to  the  heart 
of  the  matter.  It  is  possible  for  a  man  to 
attend  the  services  of  the  church  with  regular- 
ity, and  to  be  a  member  of  the  church  in  good 
and  regular  standing,  and  to  recite  every  article 
of  the  church  creed  every  Sunday,  and  to  be,  in 
addition,  an  honest  business  man,  and  yet  not 
be  a  Christian ;  because  Christianity  means  all 
that,  and  more.  It  means  the  putting  of  some- 
thing else  ahead  of  all  these  excellent  respecta- 
bilities.    And  what  is  that?    "The  Kingdom  of 


84  BUSINESS    AND    RELIGION. 

God  and  his  righteousness  " !  And  what  does 
that  mean  ?  Divested  of  vagueness  and  senti- 
ment and  cant,  what  does  that  mean  ? 

It  means,  first  of  all,  and  in  general,  the 
setting  of  the  higher  before  the  lower.  No 
man  who  so  attends  to  his  business  that  it  unfits 
him  for  the  worthier  occupations  of  life,  for  the 
better  pleasures  of  life,  is  a  very  good  kind  of 
Christian.  He  who  so  grinds  at  his  business 
that  he  has  no  leisure  for  reading  or  for  thinking 
is  not  an  ideal  Christian  —  unless  he  is  forced 
into  that  drudgery  by  the  unchristian  conditions 
under  which  he  is  compelled  to  work.  He  who 
spends  so  many  hours  at  his  business  that  he 
has  no  time  for  his  family,  and  is  so  good  a 
business  man  that  he  is  a  very  poor  husband 
and  a  very  neglectful  father,  is  not  much  of  a 
Christian, — unless,  again,  he  is  driven  against 
his  will  into  that  miserable  kind  of  life. 

And  we  must  go  farther,  and  maintain  that  he 
who  permits  his  business  to  obstruct  his  spirit- 
ual life ;  to  come  in  between  him  and  his  pray- 
ers; to  take  the  religious  meaning  out  of  the 
Lord's  Day,  is  not  conducting  even  an  honest 
business  in  a  way  which  would  be  approved  by 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  The  man  who  is  too 
tired  to  go  to  church  on  Sunday  is  the  victim 


BUSINESS   AND   RELIGION.  85 

of  an  unchristian  way  of  doing  business.  But 
what  shall  we  say  of  his  employer,  who  exacts 
such  services  from  his  men,  but  never  fails  him- 
self to  be  devoutly  present  in  the  house  of 
God?  There  he  kneels,  who  is  carrying  on  a 
business  which  degrades  men  into  beasts  of 
burden  and  puts  their  souls  in  peril.  He  is 
responsible.  Against  him  is  counted,  sure 
enough,  every  unhappy  home,  every  spiritual 
failure,  every  degrading  consequence  of  his  un- 
christian business.  What  a  surprise  is  awaiting 
him  at  the  day  of  judgment ! 

The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  was  acquainted  with 
a  great  many  business  men.  He  was  interested 
in  and  cared  for  business  men.  He  enjoyed  a 
conversation  with  a  business  man  more  than  he 
did  with  all  the  priests  and  theological  doctors 
in  Jerusalem.  When  he  came  to  choose  his 
twelve  apostles,  he  chose  twelve  business  men. 
When  he  selected  a  place  of  residence,  he  left 
Jerusalem,  the  city  of  worship,  and  took  up  his 
residence  in  Capernaum,  the  city  of  commerce. 
So  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  knew  very  well 
the  temptations  of  the  business  man.  He  knew 
what  reason  he  had  for  his  repeated  warnings 
against  laying  up  treasure  down  here  on  the 
earth,  and  being  bankrupt  up  above.     The  in- 


86  BUSINESS    AND  EELIGION. 

vitation  comes  to-day  which  was  given  in  the 
parable  of  the  king's  son,  the  invitation  into 
worthier  living,  the  call  to  choose  that  which  is 
of  chief  importance ;  and  still  men  say  that 
they  must  go  to  their  merchandise  ;  they  cannot 
come.  "  I  pray  thee,  have  me  excused."  And 
they  are  left  to  go  as  they  desire.  The  gate  of 
heaven  opens,  and  they  who  pass  by  on  the 
dusty  road  are  invited  to  enter ;  but  they  may 
be  excused,  if  they  will. 

The  "kingdom  of  God"  means  even  more 
than  this.  As  Jesus  preached  it,  it  signified  a 
reorganized  society,  in  which  the  Lord  God 
should  be  the  head  of  the  state,  and  all  men 
should  be  brothers.  The  Christian  is  more 
interested  in  brotherhood  than  he  is  in  business, 
and  cares  more  for  men  than  he  does  for 
money.  No  man  is  a  Christian  who  does  not 
love  his  fellow-men. 

Evidently  the  man  who  loves  his  fellow-men 
will  pay  a  Christian  rate  of  wages.  That  good 
adjective  does  not  belong  to  any  sum  of  money 
which  represents  just  one  remove  from  bare 
starvation.  I  know  that  the  man  of  business  is 
hampered  by  the  conditions  of  his  time ;  and 
those  conditions  bear  with  fearful  heaviness 
upon  the  poor.     I  know  that  competition  is  to 


BUSINESS  AND  RELIGION.  87 

blame  for  many  evils,  and  that  good  men  with 
Christian  intentions  find  themselves  entrapped 
by  the  devil,  and  set  in  unchristian  positions. 
Many  times  they  would  be  glad  to  pay  a 
decent  wage  if  they  knew  how.  Under  such 
circumstances  it  is  the  business  man's  initial 
business  to  find  out  how.  He  ousrht  not  to  be 
able  to  eat  his  dinner  with  any  relish,  so  long 
as  there  are  men  in  his  employ  whose  scanty 
wages  for  their  honest  work  keeps  them  face  to 
face  with  hunger.  He  ought  not  to  be  able  to 
sleep  in  peace  at  night  while  the  men  in  his 
mill  or  in  his  mine  live  like  beasts  of  burden. 

There  are  some  who  would  persuade  us  that 
the  world  of  business  is  even  now  a  section  of 
the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  that  there  would 
be  sweet  peace  everywhere  if  it  were  not  for 
the  ambition,  the  avarice,  and  the  bad  temper 
of  the  workingmen.  But  we  do  not  so  read  the 
daily  papers.  The  workingman  is  fighting  a 
desperate  battle  for  his  life.  Defeat  means 
slavery ;  success  means  the  possibility  of  living 
like  a  man.  Surely  there  is  something  wrong 
when  a  man  can  work  from  the  dark  of  morn- 
ing to  the  dark  of  evening,  and  his  wife  work, 
and  his  children  work,  and  with  all  the  labor  of 
the  whole  family  in  all  their  waking  hours  get 


88  BITSINESS  AND  RELIGION. 

only  a  starvation  dinner  and  a  sty  to  live  in. 
True,  nobody  knows  exactly  what  is  the  matter. 
But  if  there  were  no  strikes  nobody  would  try 
to  find  out. 

"He's  true  to  God  who's  true  to  man:  wherever  wrong  is 

done 
To  the  meanest  and  the  weakest 'neath  the  all-beholding 

sun, 
That  wrong  is  also  done  to  us;  and  they  are  slaves  most 

base, 
Whose  love  of  right  is  for  themselves  and  not  for  all  the 

race." 

To  do  unto  others  as  we  would  have  them 
do  unto  us  is  but  the  beginning  of  Christianity. 
That  good  rule  was  not  a  new  commandment. 
Jesus  Christ  came  to  teach  us  to  love  our  fel- 
low-men as  he  loved  us.  That  is  the  Chris- 
tian standard.  That  is  the  heart  of  Christian 
ethics.  To  behave  one's  self  in  the  transactions 
of  the  world  of  industry  as  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  would  conduct  himself  under  the  same 
circumstances  is  the  one  sufficient  rule.  To 
work  in  an  office  or  a  mill  as  Jesus  worked 
in  the  carpenter  shop  at  Nazareth  is  the 
ideal.  What  would  Jesus  say?  What  would 
Jesus  do  ?  Thus  questions  the  Christian  with 
himself  as  he  sits  at  the  board  meeting,  as  he 
makes  his  bargains,  as  he  counts  his  money, 


BUSINESS  AND  RELIGION.  89 

as  he  manages  his  affairs,  as  he  deals  with  his 
clients.  Would  Jesus  Christ  be  satisfied  to 
own  this  tenement?  Would  Jesus  Christ  con- 
sent to  this  commercial  combination  ?  Would 
Jesus  Christ  vote  this  way?  Would  Jesus 
Christ  set  his  signature  to  this  scale?  And 
what  would  Jesus  Christ  say  if  we  were  to 
object  that  "all  that  sort  of  thing  might  be 
good  enough  religion,  but  it  would  be  pretty 
poor  business"? 

The  Christian  business  man  is  never  in  al- 
liance with  the  devil ;  he  would  rather  go 
bankrupt.  He  is  never  in  partnership  with 
Cain.  He  values  his  own  soul  more  than  he 
values  the  whole  world  beside.  And  he  cares 
as  much  for  the  souls  of  his  neighbors  as  for 
his  own.  If  he  cannot  carry  on  his  business 
in  accordance  with  that  blessed  brotherly  love 
which  Jesus  taught,  he  will  abandon  it  to- 
morrow. "Blessed  are  the  poor,"  who  have 
made  themselves  poor  for  the  kingdom  of 
heaven's  sake. 

Difficult?  Nothing  is  so  difficult  as  to  be 
a  Christian  in  business.  You  remember  the 
camel  and  the  eye  of  the  needle.  The  Chris- 
tian business  man  is  tested  every  day.  But 
he  that  is  not  a  Christian  in  his  business  is 
not  a  Christian. 


THE    GOSPEL   OF   THE   KINGDOM. 


*'  Preaching  the  gospel  of  the  kingdom."  —  St.  Matt.  iv.  23. 


These  two  characteristics  are  essential  to 
the  Christian  religion,  —  that  it  is  a  gospel, 
and  that  it  has  to  do  with  a  kingdom. 

The  gospel,  however  often  the  word  may  be 
mistranslated,  means  the  good  tidings^  —  the 
good  tidings,  first  of  all  and  including  all, 
that  God  so  loved  the  world  that  he  sent  his 
most  dearly  beloved  Son  into  it  that  it  might 
become  through  him  a  world  worth  living  in. 
That  good  news  begins  with  the  birth  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  it  continues  without  end  in  all  the 
gracious  blessings  which  God  forever  gives  us 
by  his  Holy  Spirit. 

We  have  the  good  authority  of  the  Christmas 
angels  for  affirming  with  regard  to  these  good 
tidings  that  the  news  which  they  bring  is  a 
message  of  great  joy,  and  that  this  message  is 
intended  for  all  people.  We  are  able,  accord- 
ingly, to  say  with  complete  assurance  that  the 
Christian  religion  is  meant  to  make  men  happy. 
90 


THE  GOSPEL  OF  THE   KINGDOM.  91 

It  is  intended  to  bring  joy  into  the  world,  and 
to  bring  it  to  every  inhabitant  of  the  world. 

That  was  a  dull  world  into  which  this 
new  happiness  came  at  the  beginning.  All 
things  were  dark,  disordered,  sad,  and  were 
growing  worse  rather  than  better.  Men  had 
lost  hope.  The  old  religions  which  had  held 
the  allegiance  of  the  fathers  had  been  dis- 
credited by  the  sons ;  and  in  their  place  were 
superstitions  and  idolatries  and  witchcrafts  and 
hypocrises  and  crimes  and  fears.  Everywhere 
men  and  women  were  looking,  with  despair  in 
their  faces,  towards  the  black  sky. 

And,  with  religion,  the  virtues  had  departed 
out  of  common  life.  The  state  was  a  despotism 
administered  without  regard  for  justice.  Soci- 
ety was  made  up  of  a  few  wealthy  and  aristo- 
cratic people  amidst  unnumbered  multitudes 
of  slaves.  And  all  that  naturally  belonged  to 
such  a  society  grew  like  weeds  of  poison  out 
of  the  bad  ground.  Even  the  pleasures  of  men 
had  no  longer  any  pleasure  in  them,  but  were 
filled  with  cruelty  and  all  uncleanness.  There 
was  no  joy  in  life.  The  light  of  life  was  hid 
in  the  blackness  of  darkness. 

And  there  were  heard  the  voices  of  the  sing- 
ing angels,  chanting  carols  over  the  sheepfolds 


92  THE  GOSPEL  OF  THE  KINGDOM. 

of  Bethlehem,  and  proclaiming  good  tidings  of 
great  joy.  And  presently  there  were  discovered 
men  and  women  walking  about  along  the  com- 
mon roads,  sharing  in  the  common  tasks,  living 
the  common  life  of  the  time,  but  in  a  new  way, 
after  a  better  fashion,  and  in  quite  a  new  spirit. 
These  people  were  so  different  from  the  other 
folk  about  them,  that  they  could  be  recognized 
by  the  light  in  their  faces.  They  were  happy. 
Marvellous  !  Miraculous  !  In  this  sad  world 
these  fortunate  people  had  somehow  discovered 
the  lost  secret  of  joy. 

It  made  small  difference  what  kind  of  lot 
came  into  the  lives  of  these  new-fashioned  men 
and  women,  they  were  always  rejoicing.  That 
was  their  habitual  condition.  They  might  be 
insulted,  put  upon,  treated  with  injustice,  smit- 
ten with  fists,  or  sticks,  or  stones,  tied  to  stakes 
amidst  the  hungry  flames  —  nothing  daunted 
their  unceasing  jubilation. 

Stephen  is  stoned,  looking  up  to  heaven  with 
his  face  so  full  of  joy  that  it  glows  like  the 
face  of  an  angel.  Paul  and  Silas  are  beaten 
and  imprisoned,  their  feet  made  fast  in  the 
stocks.  There  they  are  in  the  darkness,  in  the 
foul  air  of  the  inner  jail,  with  bruised  backs, 
kept  by  stout  chains,  surrounded  by  enemies, 


THE   GOSPEL  OP  THE  KINGDOM.  93 

deserted  by  their  friends  —  they  actually  enjoy 
it !  They  sing  together  the  old  glad  psalms  of 
faith  and  triumph.  Persecution  comes  upon 
the  little  company  of  Christians.  They  hold 
out  their  hands  to  welcome  it.  They  rejoice 
that  they  are  counted  worthy  to  suffer  shame 
for  Jesus'  sake. 

These  people  were  Christians.  They  had 
learned  the  Christian  secret.  They  had  heard 
the  good  tidings  which  came  into  the  world 
with  Jesus  Christ,  and  they  actually  believed 
them  with  all  their  hearts ;  and  that  made  all 
that  old  world  over  new. 

The  purpose  of  Christianity  is  to  bring  that 
Christian  happiness  into  every  heart.  The 
mission  of  the  minister  of  God,  which  was 
written  of  old  time  in  Isaiah's  prophecy,  and 
was  repeated  by  the  lips  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  so 
comes  to  us  with  the  supremest  of  sanctions, 
is  to  proclaim  this  message  of  unfailing  happi- 
ness, these  good  tidings  of  great  joy.  To  preach 
the  gospel  to  the  poor,  and  deliverance  to  the 
captive,  and  recovering  of  sight  to  the  blind;  to 
set  at  liberty  them  that  are  bruised ;  to  preach 
the  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord  —  put  it  all 
into  a  sentence,  and  what  is  the  meaning  of  it? 
What  but  this, — that  the  secret  of  serenity  has 


94  THE  GOSPEL  OE  THE  KINGDOM. 

been  discovered  ?  that  a  way  has  been  found  out 
by  which  tears  may  be  transmuted  into  smiles  ? 
Rejoice,  rejoice,  ye  sons  of  men  !  Lift  up  your 
heads,  lift  up  your  hearts ;  behold,  he  comes 
who  has  the  keys  of  pain  and  sorrow  to  lock 
them  up  forever  and  forever. 

Religion  is  not  sent  with  a  scowl  nor  with  a 
threat  upon  its  errand  to  the  sons  of  men.  It 
is  not  meant  to  make  the  heaven  black  over  our 
heads,  but  to  brighten  it  with  all  the  glorious 
sunrises  of  hope,  and  with  all  the  meridian 
splendoi-s  of  faith  and  love. 

Religion  has  been  made  too  sombre.  It  has 
been  used  as  a  device  for  scaring  people  into 
goodness.  It  has  too  often  been  represented 
by  men  and  women  with  long  faces  and  grim 
voices,  who  have  looked  with  disapproval  upon 
pleasure,  frowned  at  the  smiles  of  youth,  and 
done  their  most  to  make  life  disagreeable. 
Whereas,  religion  ought  to  be  synonymous  with 
joy.  It  ought  to  be  associated  in  everybody's 
mind  with  all  holiest  pleasures,  with  all  worthi- 
est experiences,  with  the  best  of  life,  with 
literature  and  art  and  music,  with  all  that  is 
most  interesting,  most  inspiring,  and  most  help- 
ful. Be  sure  that  something  is  the  matter  with 
the   message  when   God  the   Father  is  repre- 


THE   GOSPEL  OF   TitE   KINGDOM.  95 

sented  as  desiring  anything  but  the  most  satis- 
fying happiness  for  every  child  of  man. 

Yes,  for  every  child  of  man ;  for  this 
gospel  is  of  universal  application.  The  good 
tidings  of  great  joy  are  meant  for  all  people. 
The  gospel  is  intended  to  touch  the  planet  at 
all  points.  It  is  meant  for  every  race,  for  every 
century,  for  every  generation.  It  is  as  wide  in 
its  intention  as  the  all-embracing  atmosphere, 
and  is  as  new  every  morning  as  the  air  we 
breathe. 

And  as  it  is  intended  for  all  people,  so  it  is 
intended  also  for  all  life.  That  is,  it  is  meant  to 
affect  the  well-being  of  all  the  people  all  the 
time.  It  is  for  the  church,  but  no  less  for  the 
home,  the  study,  the  office,  and  the  shop.  It  is 
for  Sunday,  but  six  times  as  much  for  the  rest 
of  the  week.  It  is  concerned,  indeed,  with 
what  is  commonly  called  religion,  but  just  as 
much  with  society,  and  just  as  much  with 
politics.  It  has  to  do  with  prayers  and  with 
parties,  with  church  ordinations  and  with  town 
elections ;  with  one  as  much  as  with  the  other. 

It  is  one  of  the  blessed  things  in  the  end  of 
the  century  that  so  many  people  are  now  aware 
that  this  wonderful  new  message  of  good  tidings 
that  Jesus  Christ  brought  into  the  world  is  a 


96  THE   GOSPEL   OF   THE   KINGDOM. 

message  of  absolutely  universal  signification. 
We  no  longer  account  that  alone  to  be  religious 
which  relates  to  the  soul.  We  know  that  the 
body  and  the  mind  belong  to  God,  and  are  to 
be  considered  by  the  people  of  God,  and  come 
within  the  province  of  the  ministers  of  God. 
Christianity,  thus  interpreted,  is  God's  agency 
for  making  the  world  better,  for  the  uplifting 
and  enlivening  of  all  life.  The  Christian 
church  is  set  in  the  world  to  be  the  centre  of 
all  manner  of  helpful  influences. 

The  purpose  of  religion  would  seem  to  be 
evident  enough.  The  vital  connection  between 
Christianity  and  character  ought  not  to  need 
extended  argument  to  make  it  plain.  Yet,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  this  application  of  religion  to 
all  the  questions  that  concern  the  good  of  man 
is  frequently  lost  sight  of.  It  was  but  a  few 
months  ago  that  a  New  York  newspaper,  main- 
taining that  the  opening  of  the  World's  Fair 
on  Sunday  was  a  breach  of  faith  with  the 
national  government,  said  that  this,  however, 
was  not  a  question  of  religion,  but  a  question 
of  contract.  Religion,  that  is,  is  concerned  with 
the  keeping  of  Sunday,  but  not  with  the  keep- 
ing of  contracts!  And  the  writer  who  calls 
attention  to  this  remarkable  statement,  sets  be- 


THE   GOSPEL  OF   THE   KINGDOM.  97 

side  it  the  assertion  of  a  certain  historian  con- 
cerning a  cardinal  of  France,  that  he  was  mean, 
deceitful,  and  covetous,  but  exceedingly  re- 
ligious. Mean,  deceitful,  and  covetous,  but 
exceedingly  religious !  And  all  this  after  the 
wise  words  of  St.  John  have  stood  now  these 
eighteen  hundred  years  upon  the  pages  of  the 
Christian  Bible,  Little  children,  let  no  man 
deceive  you ;  he  that  doeth  righteousness  is 
righteous  —  and  religious;  he  that  committeth 
sin,  he  that  breaketh  contracts,  and  is  mean, 
deceitful,  and  covetous,  is  of  the  devil. 

Accordingly,  the  Christian  minister  to-day, 
looking  into  the  world  about  him,  trying  to 
have  some  understanding  of  it,  trying  to  deal 
with  it  in  the  spirit  of  Jesus,  endeavors  to  bring 
Christianity  to  bear  upon  every  detail  of  daily 
conduct  and  upon  every  need  of  man.  His 
mission  is  to  persuade  men  not  only  to  believe 
like  Christians,  but  to  behave  like  Christians. 
He  is  to  bring  the  common  transactions  of  the 
market  to  the  test  of  true  religion.  He  is  to 
ask  himself  before  he  begins  to  write  his  ser- 
mon, and  at  every  new  paragraph  in  it,  and 
at  the  end  of  it,  and  when  he  preaches  it.  What 
can  I  say,  what  have  I  said,  to  make  men 
better  ?  to  help  them  in  their  temptations,  dif- 


98  THE  GOSPEL  OF  THE  KINGDOM. 

ficult  alternatives,  spiritual  combats,  failures, 
and  sorrows?  He  is  to  account  every  utter- 
ance of  his  which  does  not  concern  itself  with 
character  as  a  misspent  opportunity.  He  re- 
minds his  people,  even  to  weariness,  that  the 
mission  of  the  Christian  religion  is  to  proclaim 
happiness  to  every  inhabitant  of  the  land,  and 
to  make  the  proclamation  true.  And  he  shows 
how  this  comes  about  by  Christian  constraint 
upon  the  temper,  by  Christian  kindliness  of 
speech,  by  Christian  courtesy  and  honesty  of 
dealing,  and  by  the  constant  exercise  of  Chris- 
tian love. 

The  minister  of  Jesus  Christ  feels  a  personal 
responsibility  for  all  the  unhappiness  about 
him.  He  knows  that  it  is  a  condition  which 
Christianity  has  come  to  change.  Pain  of  body, 
distress  and  perplexity  of  mind  —  these  are  as 
real  to  him,  and  press  as  close  upon  him,  as 
the  diseases  of  the  soul.  The  Christian  min- 
ister and  every  Christian  citizen  ought  to  be 
profoundly  interested  in  politics,  in  education, 
in  the  problem  of  hunger,  in  the  employment 
of  the  unemployed,  in  the  unending  and  in- 
creasing contest  between  the  workingman  and 
his  employer.  He  ought  to  give  his  atten- 
tion, his  sympathy,  his  help,  to  all  that  looks 


THE  GOSPEL  OF  THE   KINGDOM.  99 

towards  the  betterment  of  life ;  towards  the 
good  of  the  city;  towards  the  bringing  of 
more  light  and  more  knowledge  and  more 
pleasure  into  the  experience  of  men. 

It  is  well  that  the  Christian  minister  should 
be  wise  in  theology,  but  better  still  in  sociol- 
ogy. He  ought  to  know  a  great  deal  about 
the  people  of  Palestine,  but  ever  so  much 
more  about  the  people  of  Pennsylvania  or 
Massachusetts,  or  whatever  may  be  the  State 
in  which  he  lives.  He  does  well  to  be  inter- 
ested in  Jerusalem,  but  he  does  better  to  be 
doubly  interested  in  the  town  of  which  he  is 
a  citizen.  He  follows  the  excellent  example 
of  Jeremiah  and  Isaiah,  and  takes  the  town  for 
his  parish. 

The  "  holy  city  "  for  the  Christian  minister 
is  not  that  which  stood  of  old  upon  Mount 
Zion,  nor  yet  that  other  which  St.  John  saw 
in  vision,  coming  down  out  of  heaven  from  God. 
That  is  the  holy  city  now  in  which  the  min- 
ister of  Christ  has  residence.  And  if  it  does 
not  deserve  the  name,  he  applies  himself  to 
make  it  better. 

But  this  gospel  is  the  "gospel  of  the  king- 
dom."    What  is  the  kingdom  ? 

The  "kingdom  of  heaven,"  it  is   called  in 


100  THE  GOSPEL   OF   THE   KINGDOM. 

the  New  Testament,  the  colony  of  those  whose 
citizenship  is  in  the  celestial  country,  set  boldly 
here  in  the  dominions  of  the  ruler  of  this  world, 
with  aggressive  purpose  to  capture  the  whole 
planet  and  annex  it  to  the  sky. 

The  gospel  would  naturally  have  brought  to- 
gether into  some  sort  of  association  the  people 
who  believed  in  it.  The  common  interests  and 
sympathies  of  Christians,  the  new  joy,  the  new 
sense  of  brotherhood,  would  have  resulted  as  a 
matter  of  course  in  the  founding  of  a  fraternity. 
The  church  was  absolutely  necessary.  These 
men  must  meet,  and  speak  together  of  their 
Friend,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  rejoice  to- 
gether in  the  new  life  which  he  had  opened  to 
them,  and  enter  into  blessed  intercourse  with 
him  in  prayer  and  sacrament. 

But  this  is  only  a  part  of  the  purpose  of 
the  church.  We  have  not  yet  justified  that 
strong  and  significant  name,  the  kingdom :  that 
means  centralization,  authority,  obedience,  laws, 
armies.  At  the  heart  of  the  kingdom  is  the 
king;  the  kingdom  exists  that  the  will  of  the 
king  may  be  the  better  carried  into  effective 
execution.  Jesus  comes  preaching  the  gospel 
of  the  kingdom,  because  he  intends  to  gather 
men  together,  not  only  for  spiritual  satisfaction, 


THE  GOSPEL   OF  THE  KINGDOM.  101 

but  for  strength.  The  church  is  organized  for 
the  propagation  of  the  gospel.  People  are 
asked  to  join  it,  not  only  to  be  helped,  but  to 
give  help.  It  is  meant  to  be  a  mighty  working 
and  fighting  force. 

Thus  the  Christian  minister  believes  in  Chris- 
tian unity.  He  holds  not  only  that  the  world 
needs  the  gospel,  but  that  the  gospel  needs  the 
kingdom.  He  is  not  surprised  at  the  slow 
progress  of  religion,  at  its  manifold  discourage- 
ments and  failures,  at  its  small  place  in  the 
city  and  the  state,  at  its  weak  assaults  upon 
the  evils  of  society,  when  he  considers  that 
the  gospel  which  is  preached  to-day  is  not  the 
gospel  of  the  kingdom.  The  kingdom  is  broken 
into  fragments.  The  church  of  Jesus  Christ 
has  become  a  crowd  of  separated  sects.  The 
army  of  the  living  God  is  but  a  mob. 

What  we  need  is  the  kingdom.  Christian 
people  must  unite  for  strength.  The  miseries 
of  mankind  are  so  manifold,  and  so  hard  is  it  to 
dislodge  them  out  of  human  life,  so  intrenched 
are  they  in  perverted  affections,  in  sinful  in- 
clinations, in  vested  interests,  that  it  must  be 
plain  to  all  reasonable  people  that  one  man 
here  and  another  man  there,  one  denomination 
working  in  this  way  and  another  denomination 


102  THB  GOSPEL  OF  THE   KINGDOM. 

working  in  that  way,  can  accomplish  nothing. 
We  must  join  hands.     We  must  work  together. 

Christian  unity  means  Christian  co-operation. 
At  its  best  and  fullest  it  means  much  more 
than  that;  but  that  is  the  rational  beginning  of 
it.  The  day  will  come  when  Roman  Catholics 
and  Unitarians,  Congregationalists  and  Episco- 
palians, will  say  their  prayers  together  and  re- 
cite their  creed  together,  and  there  will  be  no 
more  divisions  among  us.  But  we  will  wait  a 
long  time,  if  we  wait  for  that  millennial  day. 
Indeed,  it  will  never  come  at  all  unless  we 
begin  by  doing  what  we  can.  We  can  join  in 
Christian  work.  We  can  put  aside,  for  love  of 
Jesus  Christ,  our  prejudices,  our  jealous  nar- 
rownesses, our  ecclesiastical  partisanships,  and 
some  of  our  theories  and  our  ideals,  and  co- 
operate with  our  Christian  brethren. 

We  can  bring  the  Christian  gospel  into  a 
new  relation  to  the  deepest  needs  not  only 
of  the  individual,  but  of  the  community,  by 
preaching  it  and  realizing  it  more  and  more  as 
the  gospel  of  the  kingdom. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  FAMILY. 


It  is  not  likely  that  any  one  of  the  "  many 
mansions  "  of  the  new  Jerusalem  will  be  either 
a  boarding-house  or  a  tenement  house.  But 
here,  at  present,  both  of  these  residences  front 
upon  our  streets.  The  Christian  in  the  family 
is  the  person  whom  we  are  just  now  to  con- 
sider ;  but  we  will  do  well  to  spend  a  prelimi- 
nary moment  upon  the  Christian  who  is  not  in 
the  family,  but  who  has  his  dwelling  in  a  board- 
ing-house ;  and  upon  the  family  in  which  it  is 
uncommonly  difficult  to  be  a  Christian,  —  the 
family  which  is  crowded  into  a  back  room  or 
two  in  a  tenement  house. 

The  Christian  in  the  boarding-house  is  sub- 
ject to  peculiar  temptations.  One  of  these  is 
the  tendency  to  perpetual  complaint.  The  con- 
ditions are  such  as  to  foster  a  critical  view  of 
life,  and  to  incline  one  to  fall  easily  under  the 
impression  that  he  is  being  ill-used  and  cheated. 
It  is  lamentable  that  one's  daily  meals,  which 
ought  to  be  sacraments  of  brotherly  love,  are 
103 


104  THE  CHRISTIAN  FAMILY. 

made  objects  of  barter,  being  bought  and  sold, 
so  that  the  guest  is  forever  anxious  lest  he 
should  fail  to  get  the  worth  of  his  money. 
Everybody  who  has  lived  in  a  boarding-house 
knows  how  that  suspicious  temper,  that  carp- 
ing, critical,  dissatisfied,  and  unsocial  spirit 
grows  upon  the  boarder.  It  makes  Christian 
consideration  for  the  feelings  of  the  boarding- 
house  keeper  well-nigh  impossible.  I  have  a 
number  of  friends  who  keep  boarders,  and  I 
know  how  life  in  the  boarding-house  looks 
from  their  point  of  view ;  and  I  am  persuaded 
that  there  are  few  people  in  the  world  who 
see  more  selfishness,  more  ingratitude,  and 
more  meanness  than  they.  The  idea  that  a 
Christian  will  be  as  considerate  and  as  cour- 
teous toward  the  keeper  of  a  boarding-house, 
and  towards  those  who  wait  upon  its  tables, 
as  he  will  be  towards  any  lady  whom  he  may 
meet  in  society,  does  not  seem  to  be  recognized. 
Another  evident  temptation  is  that  of  being 
exceedingly  solicitous  about  meat  and  drink, 
extremely  interested  in  breakfast  and  luncheon 
and  dinner,  so  that  one  comes  to  anticipate 
these  meals  as  if  they  were  events  of  serious 
moment,  and  to  discuss  them  afterwards  as 
if    they   were  problems   in   philosophy.      The 


THE  CHBISTIAK  FAMILY.  105 

temptation  to  tMs  sort  of  animalism  is  natur- 
ally strong  in  a  boarding-house,  where  the  din- 
ing-room is  the  most  prominent  apartment, 
and  where  the  boarders  often  imagine  them- 
selves to  have  no  interest  in  common  except 
the  weather  and  the  bill  of  fare.  But  eating 
and  drinking  ought  not  to  be  matters  of  espe- 
cially absorbing  interest  to  intelligent  people. 
To  care  very  much  about  this  side  of  life, 
except  in  its  relations  to  health  and  to  so- 
cial happiness,  is  manifestly  degrading.  The 
Christian  is  interested  in  other  things  than 
these.  "  Eat  such  things  as  are  set  before 
you,"  is  our  Lord's  wholesome  counsel.  St. 
Paul  had  much  experience  of  boarding-houses, 
yet  he  had  learned  no  matter  where  he  was 
to  be  content.  Jesus  in  all  his  ministry  had 
no  home  of  his  own,  yet  he  said  that  we  ought 
not  to  think  much  about  what  we  might  eat 
or  drink,  but  about  higher  things,  seeking  first 
the  kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteousness. 

The  Christian  in  the  boarding-house  is  still 
further  tempted  to  spiritual  unrest.  The  life 
is  one  of  unnatural  independence.  God  set  us 
in  families.  He  meant  us  to  be  surrounded 
by  the  safeguards  and  the  encouragements  of 
domestic  life.     We  are  shaped  by  our  environ- 


106  THE  CHRISTIAN  FAMILY. 

ment.  We  do  what  other  people  do.  The 
Christian  who  wakes  up  of  a  Sunday  morn- 
ing in  a  boarding-house,  and  knows  that  most 
of  his  neighbors  will  spend  half  of  the  morn- 
ing in  sleep  and  the  other  half  in  the  study 
of  the  Sunday  paper,  is  conscious  of  a  natural 
disinclination  to  go  to  church.  If  he  goes,  it 
will  quite  likely  be  to  one  church  this  week 
and  another  church  next  week,  looking  for 
music  and  eloquence  and  other  attractions 
which  have  but  slight  relation  to  religion. 
Religion  is  extremely  sensitive  to  transplanta- 
tion. It  has  withered  and  died,  again  and 
again,  in  the  process  of  removal  from  the 
home  to  the  boarding-house. 

Now  that  I  have  spoken  of  the  Christian 
who  is  not  in  the  family,  let  me  go  on  to  say  a 
word  about  the  family  in  which  it  is  especially 
difficult  to  be  a  Christian.  I  mean  the  family 
which  has  its  residence  in  a  tenement  house, 
crowded  in  upon  the  fifth  or  sixth  floor  of  a 
poisonous  dwelling. 

We  who  have  the  blessed  privilege  of  family 
life  ought  to  remember  that  a  great  multitude 
of  our  brothers  and  sisters  are  denied  that  privi- 
lege. They  are  engaged  in  such  a  struggle  for 
a  bare  subsistence,  for  a  starvation  dinner  and 


THE  CHRISTIAN  FAMILY.  107 

a  kennel  to  live  in,  that  they  have  no  heart  to 
think  about  religion.  And  they  live  under 
conditions  which  make  a  decent  life  almost 
impossible.  We  glance,  perhaps  with  a  sensa- 
tion of  disgust  at  the  inordinate  number  of 
paragraphs  which  the  newspaper  editor  prints 
for  his  bar-room  readers,  —  at  the  chronicles  of 
the  police  courts.  But  we  ought  to  know  that, 
after  all,  the  chief  reason  why  we  are  different 
from  the  people  whose  misbehaviors  are  there 
recorded,  is  that  we  live  in  a  different  part  of 
the  city.  If  we  spent  our  days  and  nights 
where  a  great  many  of  our  brothers  and  sisters 
spend  theirs,  not  from  choice,  but  from  neces- 
sity ;  if  we  lived  where  they  live,  we  also  would 
in  all  likelihood  make  acquaintance  with  the 
patrol  wagon.  The  tenement  house  is  a  place 
more  dangerous  to  character  and  more  full  of 
menace  to  the  community  than  the  saloon. 

Although  I  do  not  know  that  there  is  any- 
thing which  most  of  us  can  do  in  this  matter, 
we  ought  at  least  to  have  it  in  mind.  We  have 
no  right  to  be  content  in  our  comfortable  houses, 
to  sit  down  in  selfish  satisfaction  there,  without 
remembering  the  multitudes  of  our  neighbors 
who  live  under  these  unspeakably  unchristian 
conditions. 


108  THE  CHRISTIAN   FAMILY. 

Somehow,  there  must  be  a  change.  I  hope 
the  time  will  come  when  there  will  be  no  board- 
ing-houses and  no  tenement  houses  on  the  face 
of  the  earth ;  when  every  family  will  live  in 
its  own  house,  and  have  the  blessing  of  a  real 
family  life.  And  we  know  assuredly  that  there 
will  some  time  be  a  land  of  many  mansions,  not 
one  of  which  will  be  either  a  boarding-house  or 
a  tenement  house. 

We  are  concerned  at  present,  however,  with 
the  Christian  in  the  family. 

The  family  is  the  most  important  institution 
known  to  man.  It  is  more  important  than  the 
state ;  it  is  of  more  consequence  than  the 
church.  It  is  the  heart  of  both.  The  present 
and  the  future  of  both  state  and  church  depend 
upon  the  family ;  because  the  family  is  the 
training-school  of  character.  Here  it  is  that 
human  beings  are  gathered  together  in  their 
most  impressionable  time  of  life,  to  be  touched 
by  the  most  abiding  and  decisive  influences. 
The  habits,  the  tastes,  the  aspirations,  the  con- 
science, of  the  race  are  at  this  moment  being 
determined  in  the  family.  That  is  why  the  loss 
of  family  life,  which  is  represented  by  the 
boarding-house,  and  the  degradation  of  family 
life,  which  is  assisted  by  the  tenement  house. 


THE   CHRISTIAN   FAMILY.  109 

are  such  especially  serious  mattei's.  The  future 
depends  upon  the  present  and  the  most  impor- 
tant moral  element  in  the  shaping  of  the  future 
in  the  present,  is  the  influence,  for  good  or 
evil,  of  the  family. 

Accordingly,  it  is  hardly  possible  to  exag- 
gerate the  importance  of  being  a  good  Christian 
in  the  family ;  because  it  is  there  that  a  Chris- 
tian counts  more  than  anywhere  else.  Church 
Christianity  is  very  well,  and  society  Christian- 
ity is  better  still ;  but  home  Christianity  is  best 
of  all.  Whether  the  boys  and  girls  are  to  be 
Christians  or  not,  depends  upon  the  fathers  and 
mothers.  The  boy  will  probably  be  like  his 
father  and  the  girl  like  her  mother. 

One  of  the  most  foolish  ideas  that  can  be 
held  by  sensible  people  is  that  parents  ought 
not  to  try  to  "bias"  the  religious  position  of 
their  children.  The  great  purpose  of  the 
family,  and  supreme  reason  for  its  existence,  is 
that  it  may  set  its  bias  on  character  in  every 
direction.  The  father  and  the  mother  ought  to 
have  in  their  minds  a  clear  ideal  of  what  is 
right,  and  to  impress  that  ideal  as  firmly  as  they 
can  upon  their  children.  People  who  believe 
that  it  is  right  to  be  Christian,  ought  to  bring 
up  their  children  to  be  the  same  kind  of  Chris- 


110  THE  CHRISTIAN  FAMILY. 

tians  they  are.  People  who  believe  that  it  is 
right  to  be  infidels,  and  account  that  the  ideal 
life,  ought  to  teach  their  children  that  the  Bible 
is  a  lie,  and  that  religion  is  a  sham. 

The  family  is  the  most  important  institution 
within  the  range  of  human  life.  And  yet  it  is 
the  verdict  of  all  experience  that  it  is  peculiarly 
difficult  to  be  a  Christian  in  the  family.  Per- 
haps it  is  because  we  are  there  removed  from 
certain  social  restraints,  and  our  natural  self 
comes  out.  The  natural  self  —  so  it  is  found 
in  a  great  number  of  instances  —  is  not  an 
especially  commendable  nor  pleasant  part  of  us. 

It  is  notorious  how  much  better  Christians 
people  are  in  the  church  and  in  society  than 
they  are  at  home  in  their  own  families.  Thus 
the  family  affords  a  test  of  Christianity.  If  a 
Christian  is  not  a  good  Christian  at  home,  he  is 
not  a  good  Christian  anywhere.  The  face  of  a 
Christian  is  put  on  for  the  benefit  of  other 
people.  He  does  not  need  to  put  on  anything 
at  home,  consequently  we  see  him  there  exactly 
as  he  is. 

A  printer,  upon  one  occasion,  setting  up  in 
type  a  sermon  rather  hastily  written,  translated 
"  ethical  Christianity  "  into  "  ethereal  Christian- 
ity."    There  is  a  great  deal  of  ethereal  Chris- 


THE   CHRISTIAN   FAMILY.  Ill 

tianity  in  the  world,  which  is  all  up  in  the  blue 
sky,  and  does  not  mix  with  common  life.  The 
kind  of  Christianity  we  want  is  ethical  Chris- 
tianity, which  touches  every  hour  of  every  day, 
and  guides  the  man  who  believes  in  it,  and  the 
woman  who  accepts  it,  in  the  homeliest  domes- 
tic duties  as  much  as  in  the  worship  of  the 
house  of  God. 

One  characteristic  of  the  Christian  in  the 
family  is  the  spirit  of  courtesy. 

The  Christian  religion  lays  more  stress  than 
some  think  upon  good  manners.  Our  Lord  him- 
self emphasized  the  importance  of  good  man- 
ners. He  noticed  his  host's  neglect  who  failed 
in  certain  details  of  Oriental  etiquette,  bringing 
him  no  water  to  wash  his  feet.  Blessed  are 
they  who  have  good  manners,  he  declared  in 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  We  miss  the  mean- 
ing in  our  English  version,  "  Blessed  are  the 
meek."  Blessed,  the  word  means,  are  the 
gracious  folk  who  are  courteous  and  considerate 
of  others.  We  all  know  how  much  more  polite 
most  people  are  in  society  than  they  are  in  the 
family.  Nobody  can  count  the  respectable 
citizens  and  church-members  who  keep  their 
good  manners  for  their  casual  acquaintances, 
and  visit  their  bad  ones  upon  those  whom  really 


112  THE   CHRISTIAN   FAMILY. 

they  regard  and  love.  Everybody  knows  the 
lack  of  courtesy  between  husbands  and  wives, 
and  between  parents  and  children. 

It  is  no  wonder  that  many  children  fail  in 
courtesy,  having  such  daily  examples  set  them. 
Parents  expect  their  children  to  be  courteous 
and  polite  to  them,  who  never  think  of  being 
courteous  and  polite  to  their  children.  Jesus 
Chiist  began  our  life  at  the  beginning ;  and  he 
said,  "  Inasmuch  "  —  you  remember  the  rest  of 
it.  The  treatment  given  to  little  children  he 
accounts  as  if  it  were  bestowed  on  him.  The 
little  scolded  child,  upon  whom  is  visited  the 
impatience,  the  weariness,  the  various  discom- 
forts, of  his  father  and  mother,  is  none  less  than 
the  disguised  Christ-child.  Write  "Inasmuch" 
over  the  door  of  the  nursery ;  it  is  an  excellent 
word. 

The  trouble  is,  as  Sir  Arthur  Helps  has  said, 
that  we  let  familiarity  swallow  up  courtesy. 
One  of  the  duties  of  the  Christian  in  the  family 
is  to  be  on  the  watch  against  that  misadventure. 

Another  characteristic  of  the  Christian  home 
is  the  spirit  of  forbearance. 

The  Christian  bears  and  forbears.  The 
Christian  listens  many  times  in  silence,  and  is 
busy  making    just    and    fraternal    allowance. 


THE  CHEISTIAN   FAMILY.  113 

The  Christian  forbears  many  a  hasty  judgment, 
keeps  back  even  the  thought  of  criticism,  and 
thereby  abstains  from  many  a  hastily  spoken 
word  which  would  invite  ill-feeling.  Nothing 
more  friendly  can  be  given  by  one  friend  to 
another  than  honest  and  wholesome  and  well- 
considered  criticism  —  when  it  is  necessary. 
But  criticism  ought  never  to  touch  anything 
unnecessary. 

Especially  in  two  cases  the  Christian  will 
keep  his  disapproval  to  himself,  —  in  the  case 
where  that  which  is  done  is  not  likely  to  occur 
again,  and  disapproval  is  therefore  needless; 
and  in  the  case  where  that  of  which  he  disap- 
proves is  so  deep-rooted  in  the  temperament  of 
the  offender  that  no  criticism  can  possibly  avail. 
In  this  case  the  Christian  will  remember  that 
people  are  different.  That  is  one  of  the  most 
salutary  and  one  of  the  most  easily  forgotten  of 
all  truths.  People  are  different.  They  do  not 
either  think  alike,  nor  look  alike.  And  they 
are  made  different  by  the  Lord  God  Almighty. 
Our  friends  who  differ  from  us  are  probably 
as  good  as  we  are  ;  often  better.  They  do  not 
like  what  we  like,  but  that  is  not  to  their  dis- 
credit. They  have  their  opinions,  and  we  have 
ours.     So  let  it  be.     We  have  not  learned  that 


114  THE  CHRISTIAN  FAMILY. 

lesson  in  the  church  yet,  and  we  have  our 
unhappy  divisions  on  account  of  it.  It  is  quite 
beyond  our  understanding  how  people  can  be 
satisfied  with  a  service  consisting  of  a  few 
hymns,  a  sermon,  and  a  long  extemporary 
prayer.  We  find  it  difficult  to  believe  that 
there  can  be  any  real  spiritual  religion  in  a 
congregation  which  rejoices  in  genuflections 
and  altar  lights  and  incense ;  if  people  are  not 
exactly  like  us,  something  is  the  matter  with 
them.  The  lesson  of  the  largeness  and  blessed 
variety  of  life  may  well  begin  in  the  family. 
To  agree  in  fundamentals,  and  to  disagree  in 
details,  ought  to  be  recognized  as  essential  to 
any  interesting  intercourse.  Many  a  discussion 
would  lose  its  unhappy  bitterness  if  the  dis- 
putants did  but  perceive  the  fact  of  tempera- 
mental difference. 

The  Christian  in  the  family  is  further  charac- 
terized by  the  spirit  of  unselfishness. 

Unselfishness  is  the  very  heart  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion.  It  is  not  possible  for  one  to  be 
a  good  Christian  and  to  be  selfish  at  the  same 
time.  We  are  Christians  in  proportion  as  we 
are  like  Jesus  Christ,  and  we  do  not  begin  to 
be  like  him  until  we  begin  to  be  unselfish,  to 
think  of  others  first. 


THE   CHRISTIAN   FAMILY.  115 

The  ideal  Christian  in  the  family  is  recog- 
nized by  his  constant  solicitude  for  others ;  by 
his  constant  desire  to  be  of  service,  to  give 
pleasure,  and  in  any  way  to  contribute  to  the 
happiness  of  the  household.  So  many  people 
think  that  they  were  born  that  they  might  be 
waited  upon !  Everybody  must  all  the  time 
be  considering  them!  But  the  Son  of  man 
came  not  to  be  ministered  to,  but  to  minister ; 
and  he  would  see  that  spirit  in  our  hearts. 
The  Christian  is  still  recognized,  as  he  was  in 
the  streets  of  pagan  cities,  by  his  serene  face, 
by  the  happiness  that  shines  in  his  eyes.  The 
Christian  never  grumbles,  never  comes  frown- 
ing down  to  breakfast,  never  forgets  in  his 
dealings  with  the  servants  how  his  Master 
served  once  at  a  supper-table  when  a  company 
of  fishermen  and  peasants  sat  at  meat,  and 
never  distresses  himself  grievously  because  all 
things  are  not  precisely  to  his  liking.  The 
supreme  achievement  of  the  Christian  life  is 
not  to  have  things  to  our  liking,  but  to  see 
that  our  neighbor  is  attentively  considered. 
One  of  the  essays  of  the  country  parson  has 
for  its  title,  "  Concerning  the  Advantages  of 
Being  a  Cantankerous  Fool."  The  advantages 
consist  in  that  prompt  attention  which  is  given 


116  THE  CHRISTIAN   FAMILY. 

to  the  wants  of  one  who  is  known  to  complain 
vigorously  if  he  is  not  pleased.  But  everybody 
hates  the  cantankerous  fool,  and,  worst  of  all, 
he  misses  of  approval  where  alone  approval 
really  counts  for  much,  —  up  above  where 
Christ  sits  looking  into  the  hearts  of  men. 

Finally,  the  Christian  —  courteous,  forbear- 
ing, and  unselfish — lives  this  Christian  life 
for  the  sake  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  in  the  name 
of  Jesus  Christ,  and  in  the  strength  of  God. 
The  Christian  family,  recognizing  both  the  im- 
portance and  the  difficulty  of  ideal  domestic 
life,  makes  use  of  all  spiritual  assistance. 
Every  day  the  word  of  prayer  is  said  by  all 
the  family  together,  so  that  the  little  children 
learn  from  the  beginning  of  their  lives  that 
religion  is  a  real  element  in  daily  life,  and 
that  the  thought  of  it  is  not  locked  up  be- 
tween Sundays  in  an  empty  church;  and  the 
message  of  God  is  heard,  and  the  benediction 
of  God  is  asked,  and  the  presence  of  God  in 
the  midst  of  the  family  is  recognized. 

The  Christian  tests  his  life  in  the  family  by 
this  one  question.  What  kind  of  life,  he  asks 
himself,  would  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  live  if 
he  were  in  my  position,  in  my  family  ? 


SAINTS   IN   SOCIETY. 


The  Christian  ought  to  go  into  society.  De 
I  mean  theatre  parties,  and  afternoon  teas,  and 
formal  calls,  and  balls  and  banquets  ?  Yes ; 
why  not?  There  is  no  reason  why  a  woman 
should  not  be  a  society  woman  and  a  good 
Christian  at  the  same  time.  There  is  no  rea- 
son why  a  man  should  not  be  as  religious  in 
a  dress  coat  as  in  a  surplice. 

I  know  very  well  that  to  some  people  this 
would  seem  a  doctrine  of  the  pit.  They  be- 
lieve that  if  the  devil  was  to  turn  preacher, 
he  would  preach  just  that  sort  of  sermon.  He 
would  try  to  persuade  all  the  Christians  to  go 
into  society,  and  then  he  would  confidently 
rely  upon  the  influences  of  society  to  convert 
most  of  them  out  of  Christianity.  And  evi- 
dently there  is  danger  in  that  direction. 

Nevertheless,  I  am  sure  that  there  is  nothing 
that  would  please  the  devil  better  than  to  have 
a  high  stone  wall  built  up  between  the  church 
and  the  world ;  with  neither  door  nor  window, 

117 


118  SAINTS  IN  SOCIETY. 

SO  that  nobody  could  get  from  one  side  to  the 
other;  and  sprinkled  all  along  the  top  with 
broken  glass,  so  that  nobody  could  climb  over. 
That  would  be  pernicious  both  for  society  and 
for  the  church.  It  would  not  only  be  the  end 
of  progress ;  it  would  not  only,  as  one  has  said, 
be  like  putting  all  the  dough  in  one  dish  and 
all  the  yeast  in  another,  and  expecting  bread ; 
but  it  would  be  demoralizing  both  to  the  church 
and  to  society.  It  would  deprive  Christians  of 
the  pleasures  of  society,  and  it  would  deprive 
society  of  the  presence  of  Christians. 

Christians  ought  not  to  be  deprived  of  the 
pleasures  of  society.  God  has  put  into  our 
hearts  that  social  instinct  which  gives  us  hap- 
piness in  one  another's  company.  God  does 
not  wish  us  to  spend  half  our  time  in  hard 
working  and  the  other  half  in  hard  praying. 
If  he  had  intended  that  we  should  live  that 
sort  of  life,  he  would  have  put  us  in  a  world 
that  would  have  corresponded  with  it.  The 
soil  of  the  earth  would  have  produced  noth- 
ing but  the  most  wholesome  kind  of  vege- 
tables useful  for  daily  food.  There  would 
have  been  no  flowers  in  it.  What  are  flowers 
good  for?  For  no  practical  purpose  whatso- 
ever, —  for  beauty,  for  adornment,  for  pleasure 


SAINTS   IN   SOCIETY.  119 

only.  And  God  would  have  stretched  out 
over  the  earth  a  sky  which  would  somehow 
have  fulfilled  its  useful  purpose  of  dissemi- 
nating the  rays  of  the  sun,  and  giving  us 
rain  for  drinking  and  for  washing ;  but  there 
would  have  been  no  rainbow  in  it,  and  the 
sun  would  have  retired  soberly  to  rest  behind 
drab  curtains.  For  these  bright  colors  are  of 
small  practical  value.  We  cannot  eat  them  or 
drink  them  or  wear  them.  They  are  to  look 
at,  for  our  pleasure.  God  has  made  the  world 
beautiful,  that  it  may  minister  to  our  delight. 
He  intends  us  to  be  happy  in  it. 

God  is  our  Father.  This  is  the  supreme 
truth  that  we  know  about  him.  Jesus  Christ 
came  to  make  us  sure  of  it.  And  the  inference 
is  easy.  What  is  there  that  a  father  desires 
more  for  his  children  than  that  they  shall  be 
happy  ?  It  is  a  mistake  to  think  that  he  would 
have  us  write  over  the  church  door,  "All 
joy  abandon,  ye  who  enter  here.''  They  used 
to  think  that  sanctity  and  misery  were  syn- 
onyms, and  believed  that  in  order  to  be  a 
saint  a  man  must  put  his  body  to  all  manner 
of  unnecessary  discomfort.  He  must  starve 
himself ;  he  must  lacerate  his  back  with  a  stout 
whip ;  he  must  absent  himself  from  human  hab- 


120  SAINTS   IN  SOCIETY. 

itations,  and  take  up  his  residence  in  a  hole 
in  the  ground ;  he  must  shun  the  sight  of  pleas- 
ant faces.  We  do  not  any  longer  hold  that. 
Yet  so  strongly  has  the  old  tradition  impressed 
itself  upon  our  thoughts,  that  it  is  hard  for 
some  people  even  to-day  to  believe  that  a  man 
or  woman  can  be  perfectly  happy  and  at  the 
same  time  be  perfectly  holy.  But  the  psalmist 
crying,  "  This  is  the  day  that  the  Lord  hath 
made,"  is  not  ashamed  to  go  on  and  invite  us 
to  "be  glad  and  rejoice  in  it.''  And  the  in- 
vitation opens  the  door  into  all  the  days  that 
the  Lord  hath  made,  from  January  around  the 
year  to  January;  this  is  the  world  that  the 
Lord  hath  made,  let  us  rejoice  and  be  glad  in 
it.  The  Christian  ought  to  have  the  privilege 
of  all  the  pleasures  of  society.  The  Christian 
religion  was  not  brought  into  the  world  to  take 
a  single  honest  pleasure  out  of  it,  but  to  bring 
a  great  deal  of  pleasure  into  it. 

And  society  ought  to  have  the  privilege  of 
the  presence  of  Christians.  What  would  be- 
come of  society  if  the  Christians  were  all  taken 
out  of  it  ?  What  would  become  of  the  theatre 
if  none  of  the  actors,  and  none  of  the  managers 
or  owners,  and  none  of  the  audience,  were  reli- 
gious people  ?     Of  what  character  would  be  the 


SAINTS  IN  SOCIETY.  121 

balls  and  the  banquets  if  the  host  were  not  a 
Christian,  and  the  guests  were  none  of  them 
Christians  ?  Society  would  be  degraded.  What 
society  needs  more  than  anything  else  is  the 
presence  of  more  Christians.  We  want  a  ma- 
jority on  our  side  in  every  department  of  life. 

The  Christian  ought  to  go  into  society. 
But  he  ought  to  take  his  Christianity  with  him. 

Some  people  have  a  very  narrow  notion  of 
religion.  They  seem  to  think  that  it  is  meant 
for  Sunday  and  the  churches,  whereas  it  is 
meant  for  Monday  and  Tuesday  and  Wednes- 
day and  Thursday  and  Friday  and  Saturday, 
and  for  all  the  parlors  and  all  the  kitchens  and 
all  the  stores  and  all  the  mills  and  all  the  offices 
of  Christendom.  God  is  not  blind.  They  are 
altogether  mistaken  who  imagine  that  he  can 
see  only  in  the  dim  religious  light  of  conse- 
crated buildings.  God  sees  us  everywhere. 
God  is  here  at  other  times  than  Sundays.  God 
is  with  us  all  the  time,  and  is  as  much  con- 
cerned in  our  work  as  in  our  prayers. 

We  need  to  realize  that  religion  is  meant  to 
touch  our  whole  life,  every  hour  of  it,  every 
minute  of  it,  every  act  and  thought  of  it.  It 
is  believed,  even  to-day,  that  the  Christian  reli- 
gion is  a  matter  of  ritual  or  of  dogma.     Some 


122  SAINTS   IN  SOCIETY. 

people  imagine  that  they  have  abandoned  Chris- 
tianity when  they  have  only  put  away  some 
metaphysical  belief  which  they  have  been  in 
the  habit  of  associating  with  it.  Ritual  and 
dogma  belong  altogether  to  the  outside  of 
religion ;  they  are  but  the  merest  fringe  of  the 
border  of  the  garment  of  Christ.  Christianity 
is  a  life.  And  the  real  Christian  is  one  who  all 
the  day  long,  and  wherever  he  is  and  whatever 
he  does,  tries  to  live  as  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
would  have  him  live.  We  make  a  great  mis- 
take if  we  imagine  that  religion  can  be  put  on 
and  off  with  our  Sunday  dress,  or  that  it  can 
in  any  way  be  separated  from  any  portion  of 
our  common  life. 

Religion,  too,  when  it  is  rightly  understood, 
is  a  vital,  directive,  and  aggressive  element  in 
character.  A  Christian  can  no  more  be  a  real 
Christian  without  making  his  Christianity  tell 
and  count  wherever  he  goes,  than  a  soldier  can 
be  a  good  soldier  without  fighting.  That  would 
be  a  remarkable  army  in  which  the  idea  should 
prevail  that  the  chief  purpose  of  a  soldier  is  to 
dress  himself  in  bullet-proof  clothes  so  that  the 
fire  of  the  enemy  could  not  hit  him.  The  chief 
purpose  of  the  soldier  is  to  hit  somebody  else. 
Nobody  is  a  good  soldier  who  is  afraid  to  fight. 


SAINTS   IN  SOCIETY.  123 

The  great  purpose  of  a  Christian  should  be  to 
make  somebody  else  Christian,  and  eventually 
to  turn  the  whole  world  as  a  captured  province 
into  the  possession  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
And  to  that  end  the  Christian  must  invade  the 
country  of  the  enemy.  If  the  devil  is  in  the 
theatre  or  in  the  ballroom,  we  must  go  in  and 
drive  him  out. 

The  trouble  is  that  we  lose  courage.  That 
old  scene  of  Peter  in  the  guardroom,  trembling 
for  his  life,  afraid  of  what  the  women  might 
say  and  of  what  the  men  might  do,  if  he 
avowed  himself  a  Christian,  and  so  with  fear 
denying  his  Master — that  old,  miserable,  piti- 
ful, and  shameful  sCene  is  enacted  everywhere. 
Simon  Peter  lives  in  our  neighborhood;  very 
likely  in  our  house ! 

If  the  Christian  goes  into  society,  and  takes 
his  Christianity  along  with  him,  we  may  look 
for  changes  in  society. 

There  will  be  a  lessening  of  the  social  sin  of 
extravagance. 

Nobody  will  deny  that  there  is  too  much 
money  spent  in  the  social  world  foolishly,  ex- 
travagantly. Extravagance  is  difficult  to  define 
by  illustration,  for  there  are  such  differences  in 
the  conditions.    But  we  approach  to  a  definition 


124  SAINTS  IN  SOCIETY. 

when  we  say  that  an  extravagant  investment 
is  one  which  brings  in  no  adequate  return ;  and 
that  an  extravagant  purchase  is  one  in  which 
the  thing  purchased  bears  no  proper  relation  to 
the  amount  expended  for  it.  Extravagant  liv- 
ing is  that  in  which  one's  dress  or  house  or 
table  is  furnished  beyond  the  degree  which  is 
accordant  with  one's  income,  or  beyond  the 
measure  which  is  consistent  with  the  general 
condition  of  society.  People  who  live  in  need- 
less luxury  while  their  neighbors  have  not 
enough  to  eat  are  justly  exposed  to  the  accusa- 
tion of  extravagance. 

One  of  the  perils  of  extravagance,  whereby 
it  sets  society  in  danger,  is  the  sinister  emphasis 
which  it  puts  upon  the  differences  in  our  human 
lot.  That  was  a  singular  coincidence,  a  few 
years  ago,  which  set  side  by  side  at  the  same 
time  in  all  the  bookstores  those  two  startlingly 
different  volumes,  —  one  written  by  Mr.  McAl- 
lister, describing  society  as  he  had  found  it,  and 
the  other  written  by  General  Booth,  describing 
society  as  he  had  found  it.  When  men  and 
women,  out  of  work,  and  without  prospect  of 
getting  any,  with  no  bread  in  the  cupboard,  and 
no  credit  at  the  baker's,  hungry  themselves* 
and  with   little   hungry  children   about  them, 


SAINTS   IN   SOCIETY.  125 

read  in  the  papers  of  the  events  that  take  place 
in  Mr.  McAllister's  kind  of  society,  of  the 
wines  and  the  roses,  of  the  array  of  courses 
and  the  army  of  servants,  of  the  money  spent 
upon  one  evening's  foolish  pleasure,  it  gives 
them  strange,  wild  feelings  in  their  hearts.  I 
do  not  wonder  that  the  man  in  the  tenement 
house  hates  the  man  in  the  palace. 

As  for  the  idle  notion  that  the  extravagance 
of  the  rich  really  helps  the  poor  by  giving  them 
employment,  it  is  the  most  convenient,  the 
most  comfortable,  and  the  most  mistaken  of 
fallacies.  The  money  which  is  spent  for  pass- 
ing pleasure  stops  with  the  spending.  The 
same  money  spent  in  wise  and  profitable  ways 
does  good  and  goes  on  doing  good.  Set  in 
comparison  a  thousand  dollars  expended  in  a 
dinner,  and  a  thousand  dollars  used  in  the 
erection  of  a  block  of  habitable  houses. 

These  lines,  homely  enough,  and  bitter 
enough,  touch  the  heart  of  the  matter:  — 

*'  Now,  Dives  daily  feasted  and  was  gorgeously  arrayed, 
Not  at  all  because  he  liked  it,  but  because  'twas  good  for 

trade; 
That  the  people  might  have  calico,  he  clothed  himself  in 

silk. 
And  surfeited  himself  with  cream  that  they  might  have 

more  milk. 


126  SAINTS  IN  SOCIETY. 

He  fed  five  hundred  servants,  that  the  poor  might  not 

lack  hread, 
And  had  his  vessels  made  of  gold  that  they  might  have 

more  lead; 
And  e'en  to  show  his  sympathy  with  the  deserving  poor, 
He  did  no  useful  work  himself  that  they  might  do  the 


Not  only  does  extravagance  set  this  false 
ideal  of  life,  and  emphasize  this  portentous  dif- 
ference between  the  extremes  of  society,  but 
it  is  such  a  waste  of  opportunity.  Money  is 
opportunity !  At  the  last  election  of  the  Lon- 
don County  Council  (a  body  of  men  who  have 
for  the  last  few  years  been  bringing  heaven 
down  to  earth  in  that  great  city)  there  were 
sermons  preached  by  ministers  who  desired  to 
have  that  good  work  go  on  and  grow,  and  who 
believed  that  the  church  has  a  vital  interest 
in  every  political  question  which  concerns  the 
welfare  of  society;  and  some  of  these  sermons 
pointed  out  the  good  things  which  the  council 
had  already  accomplished,  —  the  better  housing 
of  the  poor,  the  demolition  of  poisonous  tene- 
ments, the  providing  of  parks  and  open  spaces 
in  thickly  peopled  districts,  the  regulation  of  in- 
iquitous wages,  and  other  like  increase  of  light 
in  dark  places ;  and  in  one  sermon  the  preacher 
stopped  at  the  end  of  a  long  list  of  these  bene- 


SAINTS   IN    SOCIETY.  127 

fits  and  said,  ''  And  how  much  did  all  this  cost  ? 
Just  the  price  of  one  Lord  Mayor's  banquet." 

Evidently  there  is  a  need  of  Christians  in 
society,  to  set  the  example  of  spending  money 
in  ways  that  would  be  approved  by  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ. 

Another  sin  which  will  be  lessened  when 
there  are  more  Christians  in  society,  bringing 
their  Christian  principles  with  them,  is  the  sin 
of  Pharisaism. 

It  is  a  mistake  to  imagine  that  all  the 
Pharisees  are  professors  of  religion.  There  are 
more  Pharisees  in  ballrooms  than  there  are  in 
churches.  For  the  Pharisee  is  simply  a  sepa- 
ratist; that  is  the  meaning  of  his  name.  He 
sets  himself  apart  from  other  people,  saying 
secretly,  "  I  am  better  than  thou."  And  that  is 
just  as  obnoxious  in  society  and  as  unchristian 
as  it  is  anywhere  else. 

Of  course  there  is  such  a  fact  in  human 
nature  as  congeniality.  Even  in  the  world  to 
come  we  are  not  all  to  live  in  one  great  monas- 
tery, eating  at  the  same  table.  There  is  to  be  a 
land  of  "  many  mansions ; "  people  are  to  be 
gathered  into  natural  groups.  The  spirit  of 
congeniality  is  still  to  prevail  amongst  us.  It 
is  not  unchristian  to  have  particular  friends. 


128  SAINTS  IN  SOCIETY. 

But  to  despise  our  neighbor  is  unchristian; 
to  set  up  narrow,  foolish,  pagan  barriers  in 
society  is  unchristian ;  to  gauge  our  behavior 
towards  those  whom  we  meet  by  the  amount  of 
their  income,  or  by  the  length  of  their  ancestry, 
or  by  the  street  upon  which  they  live,  or  by  the 
material  or  social  advantage  which  will  come 
to  us  from  our  acquaintance  with  them,  is  un- 
christian. There  is  about  as  much  caste  in 
America  as  there  is  in  India ;  and  it  is  a  kind  of 
caste  which  is  distinctly  worse,  being  based  upon 
the  possession  of  money.  It  is  not  so  hopeless 
as  the  social  barriers  of  India,  for  one  may  gain 
the  charm  which  will  open  the  door  in  the 
great  wall ;  but  it  is  as  foolish,  as  detrimental, 
and  more  wicked. 

The  Christian  in  society  is  there  for  the  pur- 
pose of  making  society  pleasant  for  everybody 
else.  He  is  forever  seeking  out  those  who  seem 
not  to  be  enjoying  themselves,  and  making 
some  sort  of  contribution  to  their  pleasure. 
You  can  always  tell  the  Christians  in  any  social 
gathering.  They  do  not  need  a  uniform  or 
badge.  They  are  the  people  who  are  not  think- 
ing about  themselves,  but  are  busied  in  the 
happiness  of  others.  They  value  those  whom 
they  meet  as  Jesus  valued  them,  by  character, 
for  their  own  sake. 


SAINTS    IN    SOCIETY.  129 

By  and  by,  when  all  the  Christians  in  society 
are  real  Christians,  and  not  scared  Christians, 
there  will  be  a  distinction  made  which  is  not 
made  to-day.  The  man  who  goes  into  society 
with  a  bad  character  behind  him  will  be  treated 
as  one  would  be  to-day  who  should  go  into  an 
evening  party  with  a  ragged  coat  upon  his  back. 
The  man  who  lives  an  unclean  life  will  have 
the  same  sort  of  avoidance  that  one  would  have 
who  should  go  out  to  dinner  with  an  unclean 
face. 

Another  kindred  sin  will  begin  to  disappear 
when  more  Christians  enter  into  society,  bring- 
ing their  Christian  principles  with  them.  It 
includes  both  the  others.  It  is  the  sin  of 
worldliness. 

We  must  not  allow  ourselves  to  think  that 
to  be  worldly  means  to  go  to  parties  or  to  the 
playhouses.  One  may  do  these  things  and 
not  be  worldly.  We  cannot  tell  concerning 
people  whom  we  do  not  know  very  well 
whether  they  are  worldly  or  not.  It  is  false 
to  say  that  all  society  people  are  worldly. 
A  good  many  of  them  are,  but  a  good  many  of 
them  are  not.  Worldliness  is  a  temper,  a 
spirit,  a  disposition  of  the  mind.  The  poor 
may  be  as  worldly  as  the  rich.     He  is  worldly 


130  SAINTS   IN   SOCIETY. 

who  accounts  eating  and  drinking  and  dress- 
ing and  various  other  minor  and  petty  things 
as  of  supreme  importance.  Worldliness  is  the 
putting  of  the  less  before  the  greater.  It  is 
to  care  a  great  deal  for  those  things  for  which 
Jesus  said  we  should  care  not  at  all.  Is  society 
making  us  blind  to  the  right  perspective,  so 
that  we  set  the  less  above  the  greater?  Is  it 
making  us  care  much  more  for  the  things 
which  will  presently  perish,  than  for  that 
which  is  to  last  on  into  eternity  ?  These  are 
the  questions  which  put  us  to  the  test. 

Worldliness  shows  itself  in  the  blind  follow- 
ing of  foolish  or  extravagant  or  immodest  fash- 
ions. Religion  touches  life  so  closely  that  it 
is  concerned  even  with  the  kind  of  clothes 
that  people  wear.  Worldliness  utters  its  voice 
in  foolish  or  uncharitable  or  scandalous  con- 
versation. The  Lord  Christ  sits  at  the  table. 
The  Lord  Christ  stands  in  the  ballroom  as 
he  stood  amidst  the  festivities  of  the  wedding- 
feast  at  Cana  in  Galilee.  The  Lord  Christ 
knows  what  we  say.  And  he  looks  about 
him  here  as  he  looked  about  in  old  Jerusalem, 
seeing  sights  which  make  him  weep. 

Yet  society  is  growing  better.  It  is  more 
interested    than    it   has   ever  been  before   in 


SAINTS   IN    SOCIETY.  131 

higher  thinking  and  better  living,  and  is  more 
conscious  of  its  duties  and  of  its  responsibilities. 
It  is  learning  a  new  language,  and  is  able  to 
translate  noblesse  oblige.  It  is  surprisingly 
stirred  with  an  enthusiasm  for  personal  service. 
That  is  because  there  are  so  many  Christians 
in  it.  By  and  by  when  all  the  Christians  are 
in  society,  and  all  the  people  in  society  are 
Christians  of  the  right  kind,  we  may  begin  to 
think  of  leaving  out  one  of  the  petitions  in  the 
Lord's  Prayer;  for  that  kingdom  of  heaven 
for  whose  coming  we  pray  will  then  be  very 
close  at  hand. 


ETHICS   OF  THE   PARISH. 


Every  Christian  ought  to  be  a  member  of 
a  parish.  All  good  people  ought  to  have  a 
church  which  they  may  call  their  own,  at 
which  they  attend  service  two  times  every 
Sunday,  and  with  which  they  are  thoroughly 
identified.  Any  other  condition  of  living  is 
quite  abnormal.  It  is  true  that  there  are 
many  Christians  who  are  not  recorded  upon 
the  communicant  list  of  any  parish.  It  is 
true,  also,  that  there  are  many  Christians  who 
live  apart  from  the  pleasures  and  privileges 
of  family  life ;  some  people  live  in  hotels,  some 
in  lodging-houses,  some  in  the  street.  Never- 
theless, the  ideal  social  life  is  lived  in  the 
family,  and  the  ideal  religious  life  is  lived  in 
that  larger  family  which  we  call  the  parish. 
Every  Christian  ought  to  be  in  a  parish. 

Wherever  a  Christian  is  found  who  is  not 
in  a  parish,  something  is  probably  the  matter 
either  with  the  parish  or  with  the  Christian. 

Sometimes  the  fault  is  in  the  parish.  There 
132 


ETHICS   OF   THE   PARISH.  133 

are  parishes  with  inhospitable  doors,  so  con- 
structed as  to  admit  only  a  few  people  of  a 
certain  kind.  The  front  door  is  built  so  low 
that  only  the  very  short  people  can  get  in, 
or  so  exceeding  narrow  that  only  the  thin 
people  can  squeeze  in,  or  so  high  up  in  the 
wall  that  only  the  tallest  people  can  climb 
over  the  threshold.  That  is,  there  are  some 
churches  which  appear  to  be  administered  upon 
the  principle  of  keeping  out  as  many  persons 
as  is  possible.  None  but  the  most  rigidly 
orthodox,  or  the  most  devotedly  ritualistic, 
or  the  most  severely  simple,  or  the  most  in- 
tellectual, or  the  most  aristocratic,  are  desired. 
The  church  building  is  a  club-house,  meant 
only  for  those  who  are  in  social  or  theologi- 
cal agreement.  It  is  managed  upon  partisan 
principles,  and  so  contrived  as  to  be  uncom- 
fortable for  those  who  do  not  belong  to  the 
party.  Whereas,  the  ideal  church  ought  to 
be  large  enough  to  take  in  all  the  people ; 
and  the  parish  priest  should  try,  after  the 
good  example  of  St.  Paul,  to  be  all  things  to 
all  men.  Every  Christian  ought  to  be  able 
to  find  at  the  parish  church  that  which  his 
soul  needs.  There  ought  to  be  room  in  the 
parish  church  for  all  honest  people. 


134  ETHICS   OF  THE  PARISH. 

Sometimes,  however,  the  fault  is  in  the  man. 
The  Christian  may  not  be  a  genuine  Christian. 
He  may  be  selfish,  thinking  of  nobody  save  him- 
self, and  having  no  religious  aspiration  except 
to  get  what  good  he  can  for  his  own  soul.  If 
he  can  get  that  by  himself,  without  the  church, 
so  much  the  better.  He  has  no  interest  in  any 
Christian  plans  which  would  set  people  at  work 
together  for  the  betterment  of  their  neighbors. 
Or  the  Christian  may  be  ashamed  or  afraid.  He 
may  be  living  a  life  which  he  rightly  recognizes 
as  inconsistent  with  his  Christian  profession; 
he  does  not  dare  to  go  into  the  parish.  In 
either  of  which  cases  the  Christian  needs  to  be 
converted  before  he  deserves  the  name  of  Chris- 
tian. 

Or  the  Christian  may  be  ignorant  —  ignorant 
of  Christianity.  Many  people  have  curiously 
mistaken  ideas  about  religion.  They  imagine 
that  they  have  departed  from  Christianity,  when 
they  have  but  departed  from  some  sort  of  ritual 
which  is  in  use  among  some  of  their  Christian 
neighbors,  or  from  some  metaphysical  statement 
which  some  people  declare  to  be  an  essential 
Christian  doctrine.  But,  in  truth,  no  good  man 
or  woman  has  ever  rejected  Christianity  from 
the  beginning  even  to  this  present.     There  are 


ETHICS   OF   THE   PARISH.  135 

many  who  have  turned  away  from  some  car- 
icature of  Christ,  from  some  representation  of 
him  which  is  no  more  like  the  blessed  Christ  of 
Galilee  than  the  glass  Christ  of  a  chancel  win- 
dow. He  only  turns  away  from  Christ  who 
calls  darkness  light,  and  light  darkness.  He 
who  really  forsakes  Christ,  forsakes  God  and 
goodness.  Whoever  even  desires  to  know  the 
truth  about  God,  or  even  desires  to  live  the  life 
which  God  would  have  him  live,  though  he  be 
far  away  in  the  midst  of  doubt  and  sin,  having 
but  his  face  turned  toward  the  light,  there  is  a 
place  for  him  in  a  Christian  parish. 

My  concern,  however,  at  present  is  not  so 
much  with  the  Christian  who  is  not  in  a  parish, 
as  with  the  Christian  who  is  in  a  parish  already. 
What  shall  the  Christian  in  the  parish  do  ? 

The  Christian  in  the  parish  will  take  his 
share  in  the  parish  worship  and  in  the  parish 
work. 

It  will  not  do  to  preach  many  sermons  about 
the  duty  of  church  attendance.  Such  teaching 
endangers  the  real  purpose  of  Christianity.  It 
would  be  a  great  mistake  for  any  one  to  think 
that  going  to  church  is  an  act  which  of  itself 
is  of  supreme  religious  consequence.  In  the 
New  Testament,  with  but  one  possible  exception, 


136  ETHICS  OF   THE  PAKISH. 

there  is  no  command  laid  upon  the  Christian 
to  attend  church  at  all.  The  writers  of  the 
New  Testament  occupy  the  space  which  might 
have  been  filled  with  exhortations  upon  attend- 
ance at  services,  with  persuasions  to  righteous 
and  fraternal  living.  Church  attendance  is  the 
least  part  of  the  Christian  religion.  Christianity 
is  conduct.  Moreover,  the  best  way  to  get 
people  into  the  churches  is  not  to  tell  them  that 
they  ought  to  go,  but  to  make  the  churches  so 
attractive  that  they  will  themselves  desire  to 
go.  What  does  that  mean  ?  Does  it  signify 
operatic  singing  in  the  choir,  and  sensational 
preaching  in  the  pulpit  ?  Perhaps  so,  for  a  few. 
But  for  most  people  there  is  a  higher  standard 
of  attraction.  Men  and  women  want  to  be  bet- 
ter. Wherever  there  is  a  parish  which  ear- 
nestly exerts  itself,  minister  and  people,  Sunday 
and  Monday,  to  teach  the  truth,  to  raise  up 
those  who  are  down,  to  influence  the  community 
in  practical  ways  for  good,  there  will  be  found 
the  largest  congregations.  The  parish  whose 
services  are  of  spiritual  help  will  have  no  need 
to  send  out  tithing-men  with  sharp  sticks  to 
drive  the  reluctant  people  within  the  doors  of 
the  sanctuary. 

The   good   Christian,   however,   will    go    to 


ETHICS   OF  THE  PARISH.  137 

church  although  he  is  not  interested  and  the 
services  do  not  especially  attract  him.  A  dull 
sermon  will  not  drive  him  away.  Because  the 
Christian  will  realize  that,  though  he  may  not 
himself  be  greatly  helped,  he  may  give  help  by 
his  presence.  We  do  not  sufficiently  consider 
the  helpfulness  of  being  present.  It  helps  the 
preacher,  and  it  helps  the  people.  Every  empty 
seat  is  a  discouragement ;  every  place  that  is 
occupied  counts  on  the  right  side.  It  is  not 
likely  that  the  congregation  knows  how  much 
part  it  has  in  the  sermon.  Half  of  the  success 
of  the  best  sermon,  half  of  its  efficiency,  de- 
pends upon  the  hearers.  The  most  earnest 
sermon  that  could  be  preached  by  the  most 
effective  speaker  would  fail  of  its  purpose,  and 
fall  flat  and  fruitless,  before  an  inattentive  con- 
gregation. "  We  used  to  have  great  preachers 
in  this  part  of  the  country  forty  or  fifty  years 
ago,"  said  one  who  praised  the  good  old  times. 
"Yes,''  answered  the  exasperated  preacher,  "and 
great  hearers."  That  accounted  for  the  great 
preaching.  The  presence  of  the  congregation 
also  helps  the  people.  There  is  enthusiasm  in 
numbers.  Our  social  instinct  asserts  itself. 
Your  reverence,  your  attention,  your  devotion, 
are  subtly  communicated  to  your  neighbor.     It 


138  ETHICS   OF  THE  PARISH. 

is  a  trait  of  human  nature,  which  we  at  once 
recognize,  to  desire  to  get  into  the  place  where 
nothing  is  left  but  standing-room.  The  small 
congregation  tends  to  grow  smaller.  Every- 
body who  by  his  persistent  presence  gives  it  a 
turn  in  the  other  direction  attracts  another.  So 
that  everybody  who  comes  helps. 

The  Christian  is  not  content  to  take  his  part 
only  in  the  parish  worship.  He  does  not  con- 
sider himself  an  especially  good  Christian  be- 
cause he  merely  goes  to  church  two  times  on 
Sunday.     He  does  his  share  of  the  parish  work. 

Partly  by  the  giving  of  his  means  in  the  regu- 
lar offerings  of  the  congregation.  For  money, 
when  it  is  honestly  earned,  is  condensed  work. 
A  day's  wages,  devoutly  given  to  God,  means  a 
day's  work  done  in  his  service.  Few  tests  give 
a  more  accurate  measure  of  Christian  earnest- 
ness than  the  test  of  the  alms-basin.  A  most 
interesting  sociological  study  is  in  the  examina- 
tion of  the  Sunday  offerings.  Somebody  said 
that  sometimes  as  he  looked  over  the  congrega- 
tion he  said  to  himself,  ''Where  are  the  poor?  " 
but  when  he  came  to  count  the  offering  he  won- 
dered, "Where  are  the  rich?"  One  cannot 
tell,  of  course,  how  much  the  particular  coins 
are  worth  in  the  treasury  of  God.     Here  is  a 


ETHICS   OF   THE   PARISH.  139 

Sunday  collection  taken  for  the  poor,  and  con- 
taining several  hundred  five-cent  pieces.  The 
number  of  five-cent  pieces  in  any  offering  is 
singularly  out  of  proportion  to  the  number  of 
dollars.  But  some  of  these  bits  of  nickel  may 
be  of  considerable  value.  Some  may  be  set 
down  as  five-dollar  gold-pieces  in  the  book  of 
heaven.  No  doubt  many  of  them  mean  more 
than  five  paltry  pennies.  Yet  it  is  equally  evi- 
dent that  many  of  them  do  not  mean  so  much 
as  that,  and  get  no  credit  whatsoever  in  the 
celestial  ledgers.  Who  said,  as  the  plate  came 
down  the  aisle,  "  Here,  now,  is  a  chance  for  me 
to  do  something  for  the  poor ;  how  much  con- 
densed work  can  I  put  into  the  alms-basin  for 
that  good  purpose  ?  "  and  then  gave  a  five-cent 
piece?  Most  of  the  people  who  put  in  these 
petty  sums  gave  something  only  because  they 
were  ashamed  to  refuse.  The  Christian's  money 
ought  to  represent  thoughtfulness,  consecration, 
self-sacrifice,  the  offering  of  the  equivalent  of 
work. 

The  Christian  will  also  work  in  the  parish 
industries.  He  will  ask,  as  St.  Paul  did  in  the 
moment  of  his  conversion,  proving  by  his  ques- 
tion that  he  is  converted,  "  Lord,  what  wilt 
thou  have  me  to  do  ?  "     Every  good  man  wants 


140  ETHICS  OF  THE  PARISH. 

to  do  something  for  God,  and  every  good  parish 
ought  to  provide  something  for  every  willing 
hand  to  do.  People  must  not  think  that  the 
parochial  appointments  are  set  down  in  the 
church  calendar  to  fill  up  space,  or  even  that 
they  are  invented  for  the  purpose  of  giving  em- 
ployment to  those  who  might  otherwise  be  doing 
something  worse.  In  the  good  Christian  parish 
the  parochial  societies  are  designed  to  accom- 
plish service  for  the  cause  of  righteousness,  and 
in  every  case  they  depend  for  the  amount  of 
service  which  they  can  accomplish  entirely 
upon  the  efforts  of  the  people  who  take  part  in 
them.  So  that  everybody  who  stays  away  from 
the  meetings  at  which  this  work  is  done  sub- 
tracts just  so  much  from  the  beneficent  result. 
It  is  plain,  however,  that  all  the  people  in  the 
parish  cannot  take  part  in  the  organized  paro- 
chial industries.  Some  of  them  have  nearer 
duties.  It  is  well  to  remember,  therefore,  that 
besides  the  giving  of  money  and  the  giving  of 
direct  service,  there  is  another  sort  of  parish 
work  which  is  possible  under  all  conditions. 
Whoever  is  a  Christian  all  the  week  is  doing 
parish  work  of  the  best  kind.  The  man  who 
is  a  Christian  in  his  business,  the  woman  who  is 
a  Christian  in  her   household  and  in  society, 


ETHICS   OP  THE  PAEISH.  141 

these,  after  all,  are  the  best  workers  in  the  par- 
ish. No  amount  of  zeal  in  the  sewing-society 
can  make  up  for  the  church  work  of  this  sort, 
nor  be  compared  with  it  in  its  genuine  im- 
portance. And  such  as  this  is  within  reach  of 
the  busiest  Christian. 

The  good  Christian,  in  all  his  relations  to  the 
worship  and  the  work  of  the  parish,  will  keep 
in  careful  remembrance  the  fact  that  he  is  not 
the  only  person  in  the  parish;  a  great  many 
other  people  there  are  in  the  same  church  who 
have  their  needs,  their  ideas,  and  their  desires. 
Some  people  seem  to  imagine  that  the  parish 
exists  entirely  for  themselves,  and  that  its  su- 
preme purpose  is  to  minister  to  them.  There 
are  parishes  here  and  there  made  up  of  Chris- 
tians of  that  kind.  The  proper  symbol  for  the 
coat-of-arms  of  such  a  church  would  be  a  wagon- 
ful  of  idle  and  indifferent  people  tugged  along 
the  Jordan  road  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven  by 
the  clergy.  Whereas  the  symbol  of  the  good 
parish  is  a  company  of  men  at  a  life-saving 
station  beside  a  dangerous  reef,  that  they  may 
save  those  who  are  sinking  into  the  fatal  waves. 
They  are  giving  thought  not  to  their  own 
comfort,  but  to  the  safety  of  their  imperilled 
neighbors. 


142  ETHICS  OF  THE  PAEISH. 

The  good  Christian  will  keep  in  mind  the 
other  Christians  in  the  parish,  and  will  be  in- 
spired with  the  spirit  of  neighborliness  and  the 
spirit  of  tolerance. 

The  good  Christian  will  be  a  good  neighbor 
to  all  the  people  in  the  church.  The  old  idea 
was  that  a  Christian  ought  to  enter  the  front 
door  of  the  church  with  his  eyes  straight  before 
him,  and  march  immediately  to  his  pew,  look- 
ing not  to  right  nor  left,  and  there  attend  to 
his  devotions,  and  after  the  final  benediction 
depart  silent  as  he  came,  as  if  he  were  the  only 
Christian  at  the  service.  But  far  more  sacred 
than  any  sanctity  which  God  can  attach  to  the 
material  edifice  which  is  called  his  house,  is 
the  supreme  sacredness  of  fraternal  love.  That 
is  the  best  part  of  our  religion.  Into  that,  faith 
flowers  and  fruits.  Our  love  for  God  is  mani- 
fested by  our  affection  for  our  brother.  The 
sacrament  of  the  right  hand  of  friendly  fellow- 
ship ought  to  be  recognized  in  the  church. 

The  good  Christian  is  a  good  Christian  in 
his  place  in  the  church.  He  extends  all  pos- 
sible courtesies  to  the  strangers  who  sit  in  his 
pew.  He  makes  it  a  point  to  know  those  who 
sit  in  his  neighborhood,  and  to  be  so  hospitable 
that  the  most  casual  visitor  shall  feel  that  he  is 
really  in  a  church,  not  in  a  Sunday  club. 


ETHICS   OF   THE  PARISH.  143 

The  same  fine  neighborliness  will  extend 
outside  the  church  into  the  community.  The 
Christian  will  call  upon  the  people  who  belong 
to  his  parish.  They  may  be  very  poor  people, 
they  may  be  rather  ignorant  people ;  it  will 
make  no  difference.  And  the  call  will  not  be 
a  visit  evidently  suggested  by  conscience,  nor 
by  the  urgings  of  conventional  charity.  It 
will  be  free  from  condescension,  full  of  cordial 
and  fraternal  interest.  The  Christian  is  inter- 
ested in  human  beings  of  all  kinds,  knows  him- 
self to  be  akin  to  all  of  them,  cares  little  for 
the  quality  of  the  clothes  in  which  they  attire 
themselves,  and  rather  prefers  the  society  of 
those  whose  knowledge  is  of  a  different  kind 
from  their  own.  The  Christian  who  is  ac- 
quainted with  the  contents  of  many  books  will 
converse  with  fresh  satisfaction  with  his  neigh- 
bor who  knows  a  great  deal  about  life  in  a 
tenement  house  from  personal  experience.  If 
there  is  ever  to  be  a  brotherhood  here  such  as 
we  pray  for  in  the  Lord's  Prayer,  wherein  we 
shall  all  look  up  to  one  heavenly  Father,  and 
realize  that  we  are  all  brothers  and  sisters, 
where  shall  it  begin  if  not  just  here,  in  the 
Christian  parish? 

The  good   Christian  will  also  be   ruled  by 


144  ETHICS   OF  THE  PARISH. 

the  spirit  of  tolerance.  He  will  recognize  the 
fact  that  it  is  possible  for  other  people  to  be 
quite  different  from  himself  and  yet  be  right. 
God  has  made  us  different,  and  different  in  our 
religious  temperament  as  in  our  other  disposi- 
tions. To  some  the  emphatic  word  in  religion 
is  worship — they  look  up  to  God;  they  get 
great  help  from  a  beautiful,  enriched,  elabo- 
rate service,  with  colors  and  candles  and  in- 
cense and  banners.  To  others  the  emphatic 
word  in  religion  is  salvation  —  they  look  in  at 
their  own  souls.  Their  test  of  what  may  best 
be  done  in  church  is  the  test  of  spiritual  utility 
measured  by  their  own  experience ;  the  most 
important  part  of  the  service  is  the  sermon. 
While  with  others  the  most  emphatic  word  is 
work  —  they  look  out  toward  their  brothers ; 
they  are  chiefly  interested  in  commending  the- 
ology to  the  reason  of  men,  and  in  employing 
the  energies  of  the  church  for  the  mental  and 
physical,  as  well  as  spiritual,  improvement  of  the 
community.  And,  accordingly,  there  are  High 
Churchmen  and  Low  Churchmen  and  Broad 
Churchmen,  and  always  have  been,  and  always 
will  be,  and  always  ought  to  be.  There  is 
room  in  a  right  Christian  parish  for  all  kinds 
of  religious  temperaments.     The  Christian  who 


ETHICS   OF   THE  PARISH.  145 

sees  some  things  in  the  conduct  of  the  par- 
ish which  do  not  especially  minister  to  him 
will  reflect  that  they  are  probably  meant  for 
somebody  else.  He  will  desire  to  have  in  the 
parish  everything  that  can  help  anybody. 

Finally,  the  Christian  will  be  loyal  to  the 
parish.  He  will  praise  everything  which  it  is 
possible  to  praise,  and  praise  it  at  all  possible 
times  and  to  all  possible  people,  understanding 
well  that  even  a  parish  grows  better  in  the  sun- 
shine. There  are,  indeed,  conditions  under 
which  a  parish  may  need  something  quite  dif- 
ferent from  sunshine,  when  it  may  invite  a 
ministration  of  hailstones  and  coals  of  fire  — 
like  the  parishes  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah.  But 
the  ordinary  parish  needs  nothing  so  urgently 
as  sunshine.  The  loyal  Christian  makes  the 
best  of  everything,  knowing  that  that  kind  of 
conduct,  persistently  maintained,  will  in  course 
of  time  make  everything  the  best. 


THE   CHURCH   AT   WORK, 


To  every  man  his  work."  —  St.  Mark  xiii.  34. 


Yes,  and  also  to  every  woman.  "To  each 
one  his  work ; "  so  it  reads  in  the  Revised 
Version. 

There  is  no  excuse  for  idleness  in  the  king- 
dom of  God.  So  much  is  to  be  done  that  e very- 
hand  is  needed ;  and  so  various  are  the  kinds 
of  work  that  every  sort  of  ability  can  find  full 
occupation.  The  cry  of  the  unemployed  comes 
up  in  these  days  out  of  the  market-places, 
where  men  stand  with  no  man  to  hire  them; 
but  there  is  no  lack  of  religious  opportunity : 
God  has  work  for  all.  Every  Christian  in  the 
parish  ought  to  be  doing  something.  There 
ought  not  to  be  any  unemployed  Christians. 

Sometimes  we  fail  to  recognize  the  divine 
character  of  the  task.  We  do  not  see  that 
it  is  something  which  we  do  for  God. 

Thus,  the  very  hardest  task  that  God  gives 
a  human  soul  may  be  just  to  lie  still  and  do 
nothing.  Apparently  the  time  is  wasted;  the 
14Q 


THE   CHURCH   AT   WORK.  147 

empty  days  go  by  without  accomplishment. 
The  soul,  eager  to  be  of  service,  is  fast  bound 
by  the  chain  of  the  body  and  imprisoned  in 
the  dungeon  of  the  sick-room.  Under  such 
difficult  conditions  people  regret  their  useless- 
ness,  account  themselves  as  good  for  nothing, 
and  fret  and  grieve  because  they  are  not  able 
to  do  anything.  But  we  may  not  choose  among 
tasks.  It  is  God  who  apportions  the  labor,  "to 
each  one  his  work ; "  and  what  we  are  to  do  is 
just  that,  and  nothing  else.  If  God  wished 
you  to  move  mountains,  he  would  put  a  lever 
in  your  hand  and  set  you  down  at  the  foot  of 
the  hill.  Just  now  he  wishes  you  to  undertake 
this  other  burden,  —  to  carry  a  great  load  of 
pain ;  to  be  sick  patiently  for  his  sake.  That 
is  your  work.  Take  the  day  exactly  as  it  is, 
as  God's  own  wise  assignment  of  duty,  and 
meet  it  in  that  spirit. 

Some  people  think  that  they  are  not  doing 
any  work  for  God  because  they  are  simply 
attending  to  their  own  business.  They  are 
occupied  every  day,  and  every  minute  of  the 
day,  with  those  industrial  tasks  which  have 
to  do  with  human  livelihood.  One  goes  to 
the  shop,  another  to  the  nursery,  another  to 
the   kitchen,  another   to  the  mill.     It  may  be 


148  THE  CHURCH   AT   WORK. 

that  these  suspicions  are  well-founded.  Not 
all  work  is  work  for  God.  It  may  be  done 
for  self;  it  may  be  done  for  the  devil.  But 
all  work  may  be  done  for  God.  "  Whether  we 
eat  or  drink,"  the  apostle  says,  mentioning  our 
commonest  occupation,  the  remotest  from  the 
sphere  of  conventional  religion  —  "  Whether 
we  eat  or  drink,  or  whatsoever  we  do,"  we 
may  "do  all  to  the  glory  of  God."  Service  is 
described  as  a  duty  owed  not  alone  to  an  em- 
ployer, but  to  God  himself:  "not  with  eye- 
service,  as  men  please,  but  as  the  servants  of 
God."  That  is  what  we  ought  to  be  in  all 
our  tasks  —  the  servants  of  God. 

Accordingly,  the  honest  fulfilment  of  any 
duty,  however  humble,  may  be  as  genuine  an 
act  of  religion  as  the  offering  of  prayer.  To 
sell  a  yard  of  cloth,  to  sweep  a  room,  to  cook 
a  dinner,  to  build  a  house,  to  keep  a  ledger,  to 
work  in  a  factory,  and  to  do  the  duty  well, 
with  diligence,  with  carefulness,  and  with  a 
conscience,  is  to  do  that  which  God  desires  of 
us.  It  is  just  that  which  he  expects  from  us. 
For  the  present,  for  to-day,  that  is  our  mission ; 
and  when  we  fulfil  it  we  serve  God  as  accept- 
ably as  ever  Paul  did  when  he  preached  on 
Mars  Hill. 


THE  CHURCH  AT  WORK.  149 

It  is  a  mistake  to  think  that  all  religious 
woi'k  is  done  in  direct  connection  with  the 
church.  The  purpose  of  the  church  is  not  to 
persuade  people  into  loyalty  to  her  institutions, 
to  induce  them  to  build  and  support  and  attend 
her  sanctuaries,  to  enroll  their  names  upon  the 
lists  of  her  parochial  societies,  but  to  get  them 
to  try  to  serve  God  everywhere,  and  every  day, 
and  in  every  occupation  in  life.  That  church 
is  most  genuinely  at  work  which  can  point  to 
the  largest  number  of  members  engaged  in 
honest  industry,  giving  a  full  day's  work  for 
a  day's  wage,  —  faithful  physicians,  honorable 
lawyers,  good  housekeepers,  good  citizens,  men 
and  women  whose  lives  are  of  value  to  the 
neighborhood.  All  good  work  is,  in  the  best 
sense,  church  work. 

My  present  concern,  however,  is  especially 
with  that  kind  of  service  which  is  undertaken 
with  the  parish  house  for  a  workshop.  The 
wheels  of  parochial  industry  revolve ;  the  par- 
ish rooms  are  filled  with  diligent  companies  of 
busy  people.  Societies  meet;  committees  con- 
fer ;  the  drayman  hauls  out  heavy  boxes  packed 
with  many  comforts  and  addressed  to  far-off 
missionaries;  the  petitions  of  the  hospitals  get 
generous  answers;   the  needs  of  the  poor  are 


150  THE  CHURCH  AT  WORK. 

abundantly  and  fraternally  supplied;  the  days 
are  full  of  errands  of  beneficence.  The  church 
has  never  been  so  busy.  It  is  worth  thinking 
about.     It  implies  most  serious  responsibilities. 

The  Christian  who  is  sick,  the  Christian 
whose  full  strength  and  time  must  go  into 
the  other  tasks  of  the  day,  may  be  excused 
from  parish  work.  God  has  already  set  those 
servants  their  sufficient  duties.  To  neglect 
them,  to  evade  them,  to  put  some  other  duties 
in  their  place,  would  be  a  disobedience  to  him. 
Nobody  who  is  sick  or  weak,  or  who  needs  to 
guard  against  the  perils  of  over-burdening  the 
body,  is  called  upon  to  do  church  work.  The 
laws  of  the  body  are  the  laws  of  God,  and  are 
not  to  be  broken  unless  some  higher  law  of  God 
comes  evidently  in  conflict  with  them.  Over- 
worked, tired  people  are  not  wanted  at  the 
missionary  society.  Tired  people  ought  to  be 
at  home  getting  rested  for  the  next  duty. 
Mothers  with  the  care  of  households  have  usu- 
ally enough  to  do  without  adding  to  their  work. 
What  they  need  is  recreation,  that  they  may  be 
refreshed  for  their  delicate  and  difficult  service. 
Unless  they  find  such  recreation  in  church  work 
they  have  no  call  from  that  direction. 

The  same  division  of  service  applies  also  to 


THE  CHURCH  AT  WORK.  151 

a  great  many  men.  It  is  sometimes  remarked 
that  church  work  is  mostly  done  by  women. 
And  that  is  true.  Partly  because  the  kind  of 
work  that  is  needed  is  such  as  can  best  be 
done  by  women  ;  and  partly  because  many 
women  are  not  so  busy  with  other  imperative 
duties.  The  best  church  work  that  a  man  can 
do  is  to  be  a  good  man.  If  he  loves  his  wife 
and  his  children,  if  he  conducts  a  diligent,  just, 
and  honest  business,  if  he  behaves  himself  like 
a  good  citizen,  if  he  holds  out  a  fraternal  hand 
of  help  to  his  brother,  if  he  remembers  that  he 
is  responsible  for  his  influence,  if  he  tries,  as 
Jesus  did,  to  make  somebody  better,  I  would 
excuse  him  even  from  the  mid-week  service. 
He  has  been  doing  church  work  all  day  long : 
he  has  a  right  to  rest.  This  applies,  however, 
only  when  the  man  comes  home  genuinely  tired. 
When  there  is  a  choice  between  religious  duty 
and  idle  pleasure,  between  the  higher  and  the 
lower,  then  the  man's  decision  is  a  revelation  of 
the  man. 

The  whole  question  of  church  work  rests 
with  the  individual  Christian  conscience ;  and  to 
that  there  are  these  three  appeals,  —  the  appeal 
of  opportunity,  the  appeal  of  responsibility,  and 
the  appeal  of  the  Divine  Example.     We  ought 


152  THE  CHURCH  AT   WORK. 

to  work  because  there  is  so  much  that  needs  to 
be  done,  and  because  God  has  given  us  so  much 
ability  with  which  to  do  it,  and  because  he 
calls  us  to  use  our  ability  in  this  work  by  the 
voice  and  by  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Here  is  the  work.  To  begin  with  the  remo- 
test part  of  it,  there  are  missionaries  who  are 
fighting  our  battles  on  the  frontier,  trying  to 
extend  the  borders  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
obeying  the  marching  orders  of  the  Captain  of 
Salvation,  doing  service  not  only  for  the  present, 
but  for  the  future,  and  doing  it  not  only  for  the 
cause  of  the  church  in  its  narrower  meaning, 
but  for  the  advancement  of  that  wider  church 
which  takes  in  all  that  is  best  in  our  Christian 
civilization.  The  destinies  of  the  race  depend 
greatly  upon  the  work  that  is  being  done  out 
of  our  sight,  almost  out  of  our  knowledge,  by 
these  good  men.  We  are  bound  as  loyal  Chris- 
tians to  stand  behind  these  men,  and  give  them 
every  help  and  encouragement  we  can.  Noth- 
ing less  is  right  nor  fair.  They  must  be  made 
to  feel  that  the  heart  of  the  church  is  with 
them.  Shame  to  the  church  which  sends  its 
ministers  into  destitute  regions  and  then  for- 
sakes them  ! 

Thus  the  work  which  goes  on  week  by  week 


THE  CHURCH  AT   WORK.  163 

in  the  parish  societies,  the  preparing  of  boxes 
of  comforts  and  necessaries  to  send  to  these 
good  people,  is  no  foolish  work,  no  dilettante 
trifling,  no  pretence  of  occupation:  it  is  work 
that  must  be  done.  It  is  like  the  task  which 
the  women  took  upon  themselves  in  the  years 
of  the  Civil  War,  when  they  sent  clothing  to 
the  front:  if  it  is  not  done,  somebody  must 
suffer. 

Then  there  is  the  response  to  the  continual 
calls  of  the  hospitals,  the  homes,  the  various 
charities.  These  calls  must  be  answered,  these 
needs  must  be  met.  And  what  reply  shall  be 
returned  to  them  depends  upon  the  number  of 
workers  who  take  part  in  the  church's  week- 
day work.  No  amount  of  devout  attendance  at 
the  Sunday  services  will  provide  clothing  for 
the  poor,  or  alleviate  the  sufferings  of  the  sick. 
Neither  will  the  individual  kindness  of  good 
people  answer  these  needs.  There  must  be 
united  effort.  The  workers  must  make  them- 
selves acquainted  with  the  situation,  lay  their 
plans  to  solve  it,  and  do  their  work  together. 
The  parish  societies  are  altogether  necessary. 
In  no  other  way  can  the  tasks  be  undertaken 
that  are  laid  upon  us. 

In  addition  to  these  unfailing  and  imperative 


164  THE   CHURCH  AT   WORK. 

calls  from  without,  are  others  which  reach  forth 
hands  of  petition  nearer  home.  The  parish  has 
its  duties  to  the  community.  I  hope  that  no- 
body believes  to-day  that  the  purpose  of  a 
parish  is  simply  the  spiritual  culture  of  the 
parishioners.  That  would  be  as  foolish  as  to 
think  that  the  purpose  of  an  army  is  the  drill 
of  the  soldiers.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  minis- 
ter is  often  so  occupied  in  caring  for  the  sick 
and  wounded,  and  bringing  in  the  stragglers  of 
his  regiment,  that  there  is  no  time  left  for  war ; 
the  parish  ought  to  be  making  a  great  fight  for 
Christ  and  against  the  devil,  but  it  never  gets 
into  fighting  condition.  The  church  is  set  down 
in  the  neighborhood  to  be  an  influence  for  good, 
a  force  for  the  betterment  of  men,  a  manifesta- 
tion in  the  sight  of  all  the  people  of  the  spirit 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  It  has  for  its  direct 
business  the  attacking  of  the  evils  which  touch 
the  life  of  the  district.  It  is  for  the  purpose  of 
educating  the  ignorant  and  of  training  the  chil- 
dren ;  it  is  meant  to  attract  the  growing  boys 
and  girls,  to  bring  more  light  and  joy  into  the 
habitations  of  the  unprivileged,  to  be  the  friend 
of  the  friendless.  It  is  plain  that  something 
more  must  go  to  the  fulfilling  of  the  mission 
than  the  presence  of  the  faithful  in  the  church 


THE  CHURCH  AT   WORK.  155 

on  Sunday.  That  helps  the  faithful  ;  that 
ought  to  give  them  strength  from  God  to  do 
the  work  of  the  week.  But  in  itself  it  is  only 
the  preparation  for  work.  We  must  show  on 
Monday  and  Tuesday  what  we  have  gained  on 
Sunday.  The  more  workers,  the  more  work; 
and  the  more  work,  the  more  of  the  kingdom 
of  God  shining  amongst  the  shadows. 

I  would  impress  upon  you  the  necessity,  the 
seriousness,  and  the  Christian  value,  of  the  par- 
ish work.  It  is  worth  doing.  It  cannot  be 
done  unless  there  are  faithful  people  willing 
to  do  it. 

Here,  then,  is  the  work ;  and  here  are  we. 
The  symbol  of  the  work  is  the  wounded  man 
who  lay  by  the  side  of  the  road  between  Jeru- 
salem and  Jericho.  And  we  are  the  priest, 
or  the  levite,  or  the  good  Samaritan.  We 
either  pass  by  or  help. 

Or  the  work  is  represented  by  that  great 
hungry  multitude  who  sat  by  the  Lake  of  Gal- 
ilee waiting  for  the  loaves  and  fishes.  All  the 
loaves  and  fishes  in  that  part  of  the  country 
were  in  the  possession  of  the  twelve  apostles. 
How  plain  it  is  that  the  loaves  and  fishes  were 
meant  to  be  distributed !  The  apostles  had 
them  not  for  their  own  supper,  not  to  sit  down 


156  THE  CHTTRCH   AT  WORK. 

on  the  grass  and  eat  them  while  their  neigh- 
bors went  home  hungry,  but  to  give  them  out 
to  others.  Our  ability  for  service,  our  spirit- 
ual and  temporal  possessions,  are  as  evidently 
given  for  purposes  of  ministry  as  were  ever 
the  possessions  of  the  apostles.  God  intends 
us  to  use  them.  Their  best  significance  lies 
in  that  intention.  True,  they  are  but  meagre. 
We  hesitate  to  go  with  them  to  our  brethren, 
because  we  see  the  enormous  difference  be- 
tween their  needs  and  our  own  scant  supply. 
We  can  say  so  little,  and  that  but  stammer- 
ingly ;  we  can  do  so  little ;  we  can  give  so 
little.  But  that  we  must  simply  leave  to 
God  as  the  apostles  did.  He  knows  how  to 
feed  a  multitude  with  a  loaf  or  two  of  bread 
and  a  few  small  fishes ;  and  he  will  take  that 
which  we  have,  scanty  as  it  seems,  and  work 
wonders  with  it.  There  is  no  end  to  the 
transformation  that  would  be  effected  in  this 
hungry  world  if  all  the  people  who  can  do 
only  a  little  would  simply  do  that  little. 

Much  or  little,  whatever  we  have  belongs 
to  God  for  the  betterment  of  our  brethren, 
and  we  are  personally  responsible  for  it.  What 
are  you  doing  with  it  ?  he  asks  —  with  the 
time    and   strength    that    I    have   given  you. 


THE  CHURCH   AT  WORK.  167 

with  your  means,  with  your  privileges,  with 
your  opportunities  for  doing  good?  And  we 
will  do  well  to  remember  that  that  searching 
question  was  put  not  to  the  rich  only,  not 
only  to  the  man  who  had  five  talents,  but  to 
the  man  who  had  but  two,  to  the  man  who 
had  but  one. 

The  doors  of  the  parish  house  stand  open 
every  day.  Within  are  the  few  workers ; 
without  are  the  many  who  might  work,  but 
who,  for  one  insufficient  reason  or  another, 
do  not  come  to  help.  These  are  the  doors 
of  opportunity,  and  the  doors  of  opportunity 
are  the  gates  of  judgment. 

To  every  one  of  us,  whether  we  are  busy  in 
the  Master's  work  or  not,  comes  the  personal 
call  of  Jesus  Christ.  If  we  are  standing  idle, 
he  summons  us  into  his  service;  if  we  are 
already  occupied  with  tasks,  active  and  inter- 
ested, he  quickens  and  inspires  us  by  his  own 
example. 

God  comes  among  us  to  teach  us  how  to 
live.  And  the  essential  characteristic  of  that 
life  is  unselfishness.  Jesus  Christ  comes  not 
to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to  minister.  Yes, 
to  give  even  his  life  to  save  our  lives.  What 
a  distance  between  him  and  even  the  best  of 


158  THE  CHURCH  AT  WORK. 

US !  He  goes  about  doing  good ;  he  has  com- 
passion upon  the  sick,  the  ignorant,  the  poor, 
even  the  sinful,  and  consults  not  his  own 
comfort  in  serving  them.  Hostility,  misun- 
derstanding, ingratitude,  he  faces  every  day. 
The  work  is  not  a  pleasant  work,  and  the 
rewards  are  small  enough,  weighed  in  our 
common  scales ;  but  his  deep  and  blessed  love 
urges,  inspires,  and  strengthens  him.  Thus 
he  goes  on  even  to  the  cross. 

Here  is  the  ideal  life  —  the  life  of  unceasing 
and  unselfish  fraternal  service.  No  other  life 
will  find  acceptance  in  the  sight  of  God.  He 
who  lived  it  for  our  sake  speaks  in  the  op- 
portunities of  parish  work  as  surely  as  he  ever 
spoke  to  any  passer-by  in  the  streets  of  the 
Syrian  cities.  When  the  notice  of  the  mis- 
sionary  society  is  given  out  on  Sunday,  Jesus 
Christ  calls  the  women  of  the  parish  as  truly 
as  he  ever  called  the  names  of  Mary  or  of 
Martha ;  and  they  who  answer  minister  to 
him  as  really  as  did  ever  any  holy  woman  of 
old  time  in  the  town  of  Galilee. 


ELEVEN   LAYMEN. 


"  Peter,  and  James,  and  John,  and  Andrew,  Philip,  and 
Thomas,  Bartholomew,  and  Matthew,  James  the  son  of  Al- 
pheus,  and  Simou  the  Zealot,  and  Judas  the  brother  of 
James.**  —  Acts  i.  13.       

These  men  looked  one  day  out  of  the  win- 
dows of  an  upper  room,  and  behold,  in  the 
street  below  there  passed  a  funeral  procession, 
the  funeral  procession  of  religion.  Faith  was 
dead.  And  Roman,  Greek,  and  Jew  walked 
together  in  the  place  of  the  mourners. 

For  the  Romans  and  the  Greeks  the  ancient 
creeds  had  long  since  lost  their  charm.  The 
Gentiles  believed  nothing  but  the  absurd,  the 
grotesque,  and  the  incredible.  Worship  had 
turned  to  witchcraft.  The  old  divinities  had  at 
least  been  stately  and  dignified  and  beautiful. 
They  had  symbolized  great  truths.  They  had 
met  in  some  measure  that  deep  longing  in  the 
heart  of  man  to  draw  near  to  God,  and  to  have 
God  draw  near  to  him,  which  is  satisfied  for  us 
in  Jesus  Christ.  But  now  they  were  all  dead. 
Gre^t  Pan  was  dead;  and  all  the  household  of 
159 


160  ELEVEN   LAYMEN. 

the  Pantheon  lay  cold  beside  him.  A  plague 
of  doubt  had  slain  the  gods. 

There  was  some  faith,  indeed,  among  the 
Jews;  but  even  here  the  air  was  pestilential. 
Of  the  two  classes  of  men  who  led  the  religious 
thought  of  Judea,  one  of  them  —  the  Sadducees 
—  had  lost  faith  in  the  supernatural ;  while  the 
Pharisees,  their  neighbors  and  opponents,  were 
given  over  almost  altogether  to  the  study  of 
dress  and  posture ;  of  mint,  anise,  and  cummin; 
of  the  petty,  the  inconsequential,  and  the  im- 
pertinent. When  Jesus  came,  looking  for  reli- 
gion, he  was  rarely  able  to  find  any  —  except 
among  the  irreligious.  He  had  some  hope  of 
publicans  and  sinners ;  but  there  seemed  to  be 
nothing  whatever  in  common  between  the  Son 
of  God  and  the  representatives  of  devotion  and 
of  orthodoxy  in  the  day  and  land  in  which  he 
came.  He  said  distinctly  that  they  were  the 
children  of  the  devil. 

The  disciples  looked  down  from  the  windows 
of  the  upper  room,  and  the  streets  were  full  of 
mourners.  Some  of  them  were  sad  enough ; 
others  were  foolish  and  indifferent  and  frivo- 
lous—  like  the  people  in  the  carriages  at  any 
funeral.  But  on  they  went  with  empty  hearts. 
For  faith  was  dead. 


ELEVEN    LAYMEN.  161 

And  then  this  little  company  hurried  down 
out  of  the  upper  room  into  the  street,  and 
stopped  the  funeral  procession,  and  brought  the 
dead  to  life.  Faith  rose  up  and  began  to  speak. 
From  that  day  forth  Christianity  has  been  the 
gospel  of  the  resurrection.  It  began  with  the 
resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  it  will  never 
end  its  work  until  it  has  accomplished  the 
resurrection  of  the  race.  The  old,  dead  religion 
of  the  world  began,  that  morning  in  Jerusalem, 
to  live  again,  and  to  live  a  new  life,  different 
and  better.  Light  and  hope  and  faith  and  joy 
and  love  began  once  more  to  stir  the  hearts  of 
men.  The  Christianity  and  the  civilization  in 
which  we  live  to-day  go  back  for  their  origin  to 
that  scene  in  old  Jerusalem.  All  that  is  best 
in  life  dates,  like  the  century  in  which  we  live, 
to  the  advent  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  after  him  to 
Peter,  and  James,  and  John,  and  Andrew,  Philip 
and  Thomas,  Bartholomew  and  Matthew,  James 
the  son  of  Alpheus,  and  Simon  the  Zealot,  and 
Judas  the  brother  of  James. 

One  of  the  remarkable  things  about  these 
men  is  that  they  were  all  laymen.  There  was 
not  a  priest  among  them.  It  is  true  that  they 
had  received  the  highest  and  holiest  of  all  ordi- 
nations; they  had  been  commissioned  to  their 


162  ELEVEN   LAYMEN. 

ofiQce  by  the  Lord  Christ  himself.  Neverthe- 
less, it  is  plain  enough  that  they  had  no  valid 
orders,  as  theologians  in  those  days  measured 
validity.     They  were  simply  laymen. 

Presently  we  learn  that  a  great  company  of 
the  priests  were  obedient  to  the  faith.  Where 
did  they  learn  the  faith?  Why,  from  these 
devout,  enthusiastic  laymen,  who  had  a  better 
understanding  of  the  truth  of  God  than  the 
priests  had,  and  were  an  example  and  an  in- 
spiration to  the  priests,  as  good  laymen  have 
been  upon  ten  thousand  occasions  since  that 
day. 

Everything  that  grows  needs  revival.  Spring, 
summer,  autumn,  and  winter  are  the  stages  of 
the  journey  of  life  not  only  in  nature  but  in  the 
experience  and  history  of  man.  Winter  is  in- 
evitable. The  fruit  comes  to  maturity,  and  is 
harvested,  and  the  boughs  are  bare.  By  and 
by  even  the  leaves  blow  off.  The  frosts  fall. 
The  white  of  the  snow  covers  the  green  of  the 
grass.  The  brooks  are  frozen  over.  Life  ap- 
pears to  stop.  That  is  true  also  in  religion. 
They  were  living  in  the  winter-time  when 
Christ  came.  It  is  significant  that  he  was  born 
in  the  chill  December.  And  the  winter  has 
returned  a  great  many  times  since  then,  and,  I 


ELEVEN   LAYMEN.  163 

suppose,  must  come  again.  But  spring  comes 
also.  The  miracle  of  the  resurrection  is  re- 
enacted.  Life  goes  on,  stronger  and  richer 
than  before.  Thank  God,  spring  is  as  sure  as 
winter ! 

What  is  it  that  brings  about  this  glorious 
spring-time  ?  Plainly,  the  sun,  shining  clearer 
than  before  and  nearer  than  before.  When  the 
sun  shines  like  that  in  the  sky,  there  is  an  end 
to  winter.  And  when  the  Sun  of  righteousness 
shines  like  that  in  the  hearts  of  men  there  is  an 
end  to  another  kind  of  winter.  Hate  and 
selfishness  melt  into  love,  truth  shows  signs  of 
life,  and  presently  all  spiritual  nature  is  awake. 

It  has  proved  true,  again  and  again,  that  this 
reviving  sunshine  has  glowed  the  brightest  and 
the  warmest  in  the  hearts  not  of  the  priests 
but  of  the  people.  The  laity  have  saved  the 
church. 

There  was  the  thirteenth  century.  At  the 
beginning  of  it  the  whole  world  lay  frozen  in 
the  depths  of  polar  winter.  There  seemed  to 
be  no  life  in  religion.  It  was  next  to  impos- 
sible to  find  any  company  of  the  priests  who 
were  obedient  unto  the  faith.  And  then  the 
sun  began  to  shine  in  the  heart  of  St.  Francis 
of  Assisi,  and  out  of  his  heart  into  the  hearts 


164  ELEVEN   LAYMEN. 

of  hundreds  of  earnest  men,  laymen  like  him- 
self ;  and  they  went  everywhere,  carrying  sun- 
shine, preaching  the  gospel,  the  hlessed  gospel 
of  the  resurrection.     And  spring  came. 

There  was  the  eighteenth  century.  Religion 
never  seemed  nearer  to  death  in  the  church  of 
England  than  at  that  time.  The  Puritan  Revo- 
lution had  ended  in  defeat.  The  Restoration 
had  followed.  The  leaders  of  the  dominant 
party  in  the  church  had  taken  advantage  of 
their  power,  and  had  expelled  their  opponents. 
They  had  succeeded  in  accomplishing  that 
which  shortsighted  enthusiasts  in  the  church 
are  forever  desiring  to  accomplish,  —  they  had 
put  the  other  party  out  Nobody  was  left  who 
did  not  agree  with  them.  The  church  was 
made  sectarian.  And  then  came  winter,  fast 
and  hard.  Religion  feVi  into  the  cold  grip  of 
formalism,  and  was  frozen  over  solid  with  the 
ice  of  orthodoxy. 

Then  what  happened?  Then  began  the 
Uessed  sun  to  shine  again  in  the  heart  of  St. 
John  of  Epworth.  And  he  went  about  preach- 
ing the  word  of  God  and  distributing  sunshine. 
And  the  priests  who  were  not  obedient  to  the 
faith  stood  as  far  away  from  him  as  they  could, 
and  held  up  their  prayer-books  between  him  and 


BLBYBN  LAYMEN.  165 

them  to  keep  the  bright  light  out  of  their  eyes. 
And  the  consequence  was  that  John  Wesley  had 
to  get  laymen  to  do  the  clergy's  work,  and  right 
valiantly  they  did  it  The  service  that  was 
done  in  the  Middle  Ages  by  those  good  lay- 
people,  the  Franciscans,  was  done  again,  and 
done  better,  five  hundred  years  after,  by  those 
excellent  Christian  men  and  women,  the  Wes- 
leyans.  The  marvellous  growth  of  the  Metho- 
dist Church  is  the  natural  result  of  a  movement 
which  set  the  laity  at  work. 

The  Christian  religion  cannot  get  along  with- 
out the  labors  of  the  Christian  laity.  The  Lord 
never  meant  that  there  should  be  only  one  min- 
ister in  a  parish.  He  meant  that  there  should 
be  as  many  ministers  as  there  are  Christian  men 
and  women.  There  must  be  pastors,  priests, 
and  preachers,  men  who  shall  be  the  national 
leaders  of  the  people,  so  commissioned  and  ac- 
cepted. There  must  be  generals  and  captains 
in  the  militant  army  of  the  church,  as  there  are 
in  any  other  army,  to  decide,  to  represent,  to 
direct,  to  lead.  Responsibility  must  be  set 
upon  certain  individual  designated  shoulders. 
But  no  work  goes  on  as  it  ought  unless  every 
worker  shares  the  consciousness  of  responsibil- 
ity.   No  regiment  ever  won  a  battle  in  which 


166  ELEVEN   LAYMEN. 

the  captain  did  all  the  fighting.  The  finest  army 
that  ever  entered  into  war,  the  army  that  never 
lost  a  field,  was  made  up  of  men  who  were  just 
as  much  interested  in  the  purpose  of  the  fight- 
ing, in  the  great  cause,  every  man  of  them,  as 
Oliver  Cromwell  was  who  led  them. 

Peter  is  not  enough,  nor  even  John  and  Peter. 
The  church  needs  Peter,  and  James,  and  John, 
and  Andrew,  Philip  and  Thomas,  Bartholomew 
and  Matthew,  James  the  son  of  Alpheus,  and 
Simon  the  Zealot,  and  Judas  the  brother  of 
James. 

There  is  no  more  hopeful  feature  of  the  life 
of  the  church  to-day  than  the  emphasis  which 
is  being  put  upon  the  work  of  the  laity.  On 
all  sides  men  and  women  are  recognizing  that 
they  are  called  to  do  church  work.  Member- 
ship in  the  Christian  church  is  coming  to  be  un- 
derstood to  carry  with  it  an  obligation  to  do 
something  for  Jesus  Christ.  There  are  still,  no 
doubt,  a  good  many  Christians  —  Christians  in 
name- — who  need  to  be  labored  with  as  if  they 
were  pagans.  The  militant  church  is  still  de- 
layed in  its  march  by  these  laggard  soldiers, 
who  must  be  coaxed  and  urged  and  pushed  to 
keep  up  with  the  advancing  ranks.  But  the 
number  is  smaller  than  it  used  to  be. 


ELEVEN   LAYMEN.  167 

This  is  a  day  when  the  builders  of  a  church 
build  also  a  parish  house  beside  it,  as  the  head- 
quarters of  all  these  parochial  industries  of  the 
faithful  laity.  The  parish  house  is  the  symbol 
of  this  new  idea  of  parish  life,  which  is  as  old 
as  Pentecost.  The  church  exists  not  for  wor- 
ship only,  but  for  work.  The  church  needs  not 
only  worshippers,  but  workers. 

The  first  thing  is  allegiance.  The  Christian 
layman  must  be  true  to  Christ.  He  must  work 
not  for  the  work's  sake,  and  not  for  his  own 
sake,  but  first  for  Christ's  sake.  The  sole  pur- 
pose of  all  his  effort  must  be  to  set  forward  the 
kingdom  of  Christ.  He  is  to  win  the  wills  of 
men  for  Christ.  That  may  be  accomplished  in 
the  preacher's  way,  by  Christian  speech,  by  the 
direct  appeal  of  one  man  to  another.  It  may 
be  accomplished  also  in  a  thousand  ot^ier  ways, 
by  every  act  which  commends  the  church  of 
Christ  to  the  approval  of  good  people.  The 
Christian  layman  will  help  to  the  best  of  his 
strength  in  every  endeavor  in  the  church  and 
out  of  it  which  looks  toward  the  betterment  of 
men.  He  will  evidence  the  genuineness  of  his 
Christianity  by  the  warmth  of  his  sympathy  for 
all  good  causes.  He  will  be  interested  in  poli- 
tics, in  the  promotion  of  good  government,  in 


168  ELEVEN   LAYMEN. 

the  right  ruling  of  the  city,  in  sanitation,  in  the 
reform  of  tenements,  in  the  abolition  of  drunk- 
enness, in  the  problem  of  poverty,  in  the  assist- 
ance of  the  unemployed,  in  the  bringing  in  of 
brotherhood,  in  the  advancing  of  the  efficient 
missions  of  art,  of  music,  and  of  books.  He 
will  realize  that  it  is  his  duty  as  a  disciple  of 
Jesus  Christ  to  do  something  to  make  this  world 
nearer  to  Christ's  ideal  of  a  Christian  world. 

The  next  thing  is  opportunity.  The  Chris- 
tian layman  will  discover  his  own  opportunities. 
He  will  not  wait  in  idleness  till  somebody  else 
invents  an  opportunity.  He  will  not  tarry  for 
the  formal  organization  of  a  new  chapter  of  the 
parish  guild.  Surely,  it  does  not  need  a  long 
look,  nor  even  a  particularly  keen  look,  into  the 
world  we  live  in,  to  see  that  it  is  not  an  ideal 
world.  The  kingdom  of  God  for  which  we 
pray,  and  whose  citizens  we  are  already,  has 
not  yet  gained  universal  allegiance.  Nobody 
who  reads  the  newspapers,  or  who  even  walks 
along  the  streets,  will  imagine  that  we  are  living 
in  the  millennium.  There  is  no  lack  of  need  of 
betterment.  But  the  name  of  betterment  is 
only  another  name  for  opportunity.  Here  are 
all  these  evils  in  the  society  about  us ;  and  here 
are  we,  pledged  to  resist  evil,  to  be  the  enemy 


ELEVEN   LAYMEN.  169 

of  it,  to  hate  it  with  all  the  zeal  and  fervor  of 
hatred  that  is  voiced  in  the  old  psalms.  Plainly, 
there  is  enough  to  do. 

Do  not  wait  to  be  invited.  Do  not  wait  to 
have  some  work  assigned  you.  Go  work  in 
your  own  way,  find  your  own  task.  No  one 
knows  so  well  as  you  what  you  can  do  best. 
Peter  and  James  and  John  and  Andrew  and  the 
rest  of  them  were  men  of  different  ideas  and  dif- 
ferent abilities.  They  were  agreed  only  in  their 
allegiance  to  Jesus  Christ.  It  would  have  been 
folly  for  the  others  to  have  delayed  till  Peter 
should  have  set  them  each  at  work.  Peter 
knew  what  task  fitted  his  hand  closest,  and  he 
proceeded  to  undertake  it ;  but  he  could  hardly 
know  what  was  the  ideal  service  of  Simon  the 
Zealot,  or  of  Judas  the  brother  of  James.  Simon 
and  Judas  must  use  their  own  minds  and  their 
own  hands  They  must  enter  each  in  his  own 
way  into  his  own  opportunity. 

The  Christian  layman  has  consecrated  all  that 
is  good  in  him  to  the  service  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  he  looks  about  in  the  spirit  of  this  Master 
to  see  what  he  can  do  for  those  who  are  worse 
off  than  he  is.  How  can  he  spend  his  money 
for  the  best  benefit  of  the  neighborhood  ?  or,  if 
he  has  influence,  how  can  he  exercise  it  most 


170  ELEVEN   LAYMEN. 

fruitfully  ?  All  about  us  are  those  whose  lives 
are  full  of  sadness ;  they  are  sick,  afflicted,  ig- 
norant, imprisoned  by  poverty.  At  best,  they 
lack  the  inspiration  of  those  interests  which 
make  up  so  much  of  the  best  of  life  for  us.  It 
would  help  them  if  we  were  only  to  make  friends 
with  them.  Social  opportunity  ?  social  service  ? 
—  there  is  no  end  to  it. 

Who,  in  such  days  as  these,  can  sit  idly  in 
his  pew  on  Sunday,  and  fancy  that  he  is  thereby 
discharging  his  religious  duty?  Who  can  hon- 
estly answer  at  the  last  great  day,  "I  had  no 
chance  to  help  "  ?  Every  soul  to  whom  these 
words  may  come  can  be  of  the  most  blessed  and 
efficient  help  to  somebody  to-morrow.  There  is 
plenty  of  work  even  in  the  narrowest  neighbor- 
hood for  Peter,  and  James,  and  John,  and  An- 
drew, Philip  and  Thomas,  Bartholomew  and 
Matthew,  James  the  son  of  Alpheus,  and  Simon 
the  Zealot,  and  Judas  the  brother  of  James. 


OUR  DUTY  TO  C^SAR. 


"  Render,  therefore,  unto   Caesar  the   things  which    are 
CaBsar's."  —  St.  Matt.  xxii.  21. 


Our  duty  to  Caesar.  Thus  did  Jesus  Christ 
define  it.  Being  urgently  invited  by  members 
of  the  two  chief  political  parties  of  his  day  to 
speak  his  mind  upon  the  question  which  they 
had  under  discussion  —  thus  he  answered. 

These  two  parties,  the  Herodians  and  the 
Pharisees,  were  set  the  one  against  the  other 
with  more  than  the  usual  partisan  blindness 
and  bitterness.  The  conditions  were  peculiar. 
There  had  never  been  much  separation  in  Judea 
between  politics  and  religion.  The  Jewish 
church  was  the  Jewish  nation.  The  prophets 
were  patriot  orators  who  preached  politics  with 
vehemence,  and  entered  might  and  main  into 
public  life.  It  is  impossible  to  think  of  Isaiah 
as  a  quiet  parish  priest,  living  at  the  centre  of 
a  narrow  circle,  letting  the  great  world  outside 
go  uninterrupted  on  its  own  mistaken  way.  In 
New  York,  in  Boston,  Isaiah  would  have  been 
171 


172  OUR  DUTY   TO  C^SAE. 

the  heart  and  soul  of  a  great,  outspoken,  radi- 
cal, independent,  righteous  newspaper.  Amos 
and  Hosea  would  have  put  themselves  in  peril 
of  the  police  by  inflammatory  speeches  on  the 
street-corners  and  in  the  parks.  All  these  men 
were  interested  in  public  questions,  profoundly 
and  supremely. 

The  saints  of  that  old  time  were  the  national 
heroes.  They  were  the  men  who  had  done  con- 
spicuous service  for  the  country.  St.  Abraham, 
the  founder  of  the  nation ;  St.  Moses,  the  leader 
of  the  revolution  in  Egypt,  who  had  brought 
the  people  into  the  blessings  of  independence; 
St.  Joshua,  who  had  fought  their  battles  and  won 
splendid  victories ;  St.  David,  who  had  ruled 
them  prudently  with  all  his  power.  These  were 
the  sacred  names  upon  their  church  calendar. 
The  leaders  of  the  synagogue  had  been  the 
guides  of  the  national  councils  ;  and  their  sons 
who  sat  upon  the  front  seats  in  their  fathers' 
places  were  eager  to  emulate  their  patriotism 
and  their  valor.  There  was  no  difference  be- 
tween a  parliament  and  a  prayer-meeting.  Any 
political  question  was  also  a  religious  ques- 
tion ;  into  which  excellent  condition,  though 
in  a  more  Christian  spirit,  may  we  come,  our- 
selves. 


OUR  DUTY  TO  C^SAR.  178 

The  point  which  was  just  then  at  issue  was 
the  sovereignty  of  Caesar.  The  Herodians  were 
the  party  of  the  government;  the  Pharisees 
were  the  party  of  the  opposition.  To  the  Phari- 
sees it  was  so  grievous  a  matter  that  a  Gentile 
conqueror  should  sit  upon  the  sacred  throne  of 
Israel,  and  a  heathen  reign  over  the  chosen 
people,  that  it  seemed  an  insult  to  Almighty 
God.  It  was  as  if  a  Mohammedan  were  to  be 
brought  into  the  place  of  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury.  They  prayed  for  revolution.  They 
hated  both  Caesar  and  his  viceroy  Herod  with 
a  fierce  religious  hatred.  Choose,  they  cried, 
between  us  and  the  Herodians,  between  God 
and  Caesar. 

These  were  the  men  who  came  together  to 
listen  to  a  sermon  upon  the  political  situation. 
In  one  point  only  they  agreed ;  they  were  alike 
in  opposition  to  the  Teacher  whom  they  came 
to  question.  Instinctively  they  felt  that  he 
belonged  to  neither  side,  that  he  somehow 
stood  off  by  himself,  alone,  independent,  a 
third  party  of  one,  looking  at  the  whole  matter 
from  a  point  of  view  different  from  theirs. 
His  kingdom  was  not  of  this  world ;  his  poli- 
tics were  neither  Herodian  nor  Pharisaic,  but  of 
a  new  sort,  celestial,  Christian,  and  they  hated 


174  OUR   DUTY  TO  C^SAR. 

him  for  it,  as  the  partisan  instinctively  detests 
the  man  who  stands  upon  a  plane  above  his 
head. 

They  introduced  themselves,  however,  in  as 
polite  a  fashion  as  they  could,  beginning  with 
a  compliment.  ''  Master,"  they  said,  "  we  know 
that  thou  art  true,  and  teachest  the  way  of  God 
in  truth,  neither  carest  thou  for  any  man,  for 
thou  regardest  not  the  person  of  men."  This 
was  a  tribute  to  the  absolute  frankness  of  Jesus. 
They  were  quite  right  when  they  said  that  what 
he  cared  for  was  the  honest  truth  alone,  and 
that  his  utterance  was  not  in  any  way  affected 
by  the  standing,  the  influence,  or  the  money  of 
those  from  whom  he  differed. 

But  this  was  altogether  for  the  purpose  of 
tempting  him  —  in  that  subtle  and  commonly 
successful  manner  of  the  devil  with  which  we 
are  most  of  us  acquainted  to  our  cost  —  into 
some  rash  speech  of  unusual  and  dangerous 
boldness.  "  Tell  us,  therefore,  what  thinkest 
thou  ?  Is  it  lawful  to  give  tribute  to  Csesar,  or 
not? 

To  this  question  Jesus  returned  his  wonder- 
fully wise  answer.  He  replied  neither  yes  nor 
no.     How,  indeed,  could  he  ? 

For  every  partisan  has  a  certain  amount  of 


OUR   DUTY   TO   C-<ESAR.  175 

truth  and  right  upon  his  side.  No  man  goes 
heartily  into  a  cause  which  does  not  somehow 
commend  itself  to  his  good  judgment.  There 
was  a  great  deal  to  be  said  for  the  Herodians, 
and  there  was  a  great  deal  to  be  said  for  the 
Pharisees.  A  categorical  settlement  of  the  dis- 
cussion could  not  fail  to  be  mistaken.  Yes,  or 
no;  either  would  be  false.  Qualifications,  ex- 
planations, must  precede  any  adequate  reply. 
There  is  always  a  deal  of  preaching  upon  mat- 
ters which  are  under  present  partisan  discussion. 
The  parson  will  have  his  say  in  the  debate  be- 
tween the  scientists  and  the  religionists,  be- 
tween labor  and  capital,  between  the  reformers 
and  the  ringsters.  And  why  not?  So  he 
speaks  the  will  of  God,  and  in  the  spirit  of 
Jesus,  the  Holy  Ghost  teaching  by  his  voice 
—  why  not?  Politics  in  the  pulpit?  Any- 
thing in  the  pulpit  that  will  help  men,  uplift 
the  neighborhood,  defeat  the  devil,  save  souls, 
bring  earth  and  heaven  nearer  together. 

One  difficulty  with  such  preaching  is  that 
it  is  often  ignorant.  The  teacher  does  not 
know  what  he  is  talking  about.  The  details 
are  so  many,  the  need  of  technical  information 
is  so  great,  the  actual  conditions  and  the  real 
rights  and  wrongs  are  so  hard  to  get  at,  that 


176  OUR  DUTY  TO  C^SAR. 

the  preacher  sitting  in  his  study,  looking  at 
the  world  out  of  a  dusty  window,  is  in  great 
danger  of  mistake.  And  these  mistakes  make 
a  bad  matter  worse.  I  have  known,  and  so 
have  you,  of  foolish  sermons,  mischievous  ser- 
mons, which  have  brought  the  whole  fraternity 
of  preachers  into  discredit,  have  disgusted  all 
intelligent  and  sensible  people,  and  have  proved 
more  pernicious  than  a  score  of  old  anathe- 
matized heresies.  The  preachers  of  these  ser- 
mons were  solemn  busybodies,  intermeddling 
in  other  men's  matters.  They  have  proved 
the  wise  proverb  that  no  knave  can  do  such 
damage  as  a  mistaken  saint. 

But  even  when  the  preacher  has  some  ade- 
quate knowledge  of  his  subject,  and  is  able  to 
preach  politics  as  wisely  as  a  statesman,  even 
then  his  difficulties  are  but  multiplied ;  the 
more  he  knows,  the  more  difficult  he  finds  the 
choice  between  two  sides.  What  can  he  say? 
The  matter  is  a  hundred  times  more  compli- 
cated than  he  thought.  Science,  politics,  eco- 
nomics —  these  are  not  plain  themes,  easy  to 
understand,  easy  to  adjust  and  to  determine. 
When  he  stood  up  in  his  first  rashness  to 
demolish  in  twenty  minutes  what  Darwin  had 
pondered  in  silence    twenty  years   before   he 


OUR   DUTY   TO   C^SAR.  177 

allowed  himself  to  frame  his  theory,  the  case 
seemed  very  simple.  When  he  called  the 
tragedy  of  the  industrial  situation  into  his 
court,  and  passed  sentence  with  such  astonish- 
ing celerity,  having  for  witnesses  only  the 
columns  of  the  morning  paper,  there  were  no 
disturbing  questions  in  his  mind.  But  the 
simplicity  was  the  foolish  simplicity  of  igno- 
rance. After  a  space  of  careful  study  the 
thing  does  not  seem  so  plain. 

Thus  he  begins  to  see  both  sides.  He  finds 
out  little  by  little  that  the  Pharisees  have 
somewhat  to  say  for  themselves,  and  that,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  Herodians  are  not  so  com- 
pletely in  the  wrong.  And  gradually,  as  he 
goes  on,  learning  wisdom  by  his  manifold 
blunders,  he  comes  to  recognize  the  divine 
prudence  of  Jesus  Christ.  He  begins  to  deal 
with  these  hard  questions  as  Jesus  Christ 
dealt  with  them.  Jesus  never  entered  into 
the  details  of  any  partisan  dispute.  Neither 
did  he  ever  attempt  to  settle  any  discussion 
by  his  own  decision.  That  he  distinctly 
declined  to  do.  He  knew  very  well  that  no 
result  will  ever  be  reached  by  adding  up  all 
the  rights  of  one  side  and  all  the  rights  of 
the  other  side,  and  subtracting   one   from   the 


178  OUR   DUTY   TO   C^SAR.  v 

other.  And  he  knew,  also,  that  no  third  party 
will  ever  really  bring  about  of  his  own  voice 
a  final  and  satisfactory  settlement.  The  dis- 
putants must  decide  their  own  discussion. 
The  part  of  the  religious  teacher  in  the  mat- 
ter is  to  lift  up  the  whole  debate  into  clearer 
air.  He  must  deal  with  the  everlasting  veri- 
ties. He  must  bring  the  light  of  eternal 
principles  to  shine  into  this  darkness,  to  show 
the  path.  These  principles,  insisted  upon  over 
and  over,  preached  and  preached  and  preached, 
will  by  and  by  bring  peace. 

Csesar's  things  to  Caesar;  God's  to  God. 
The  Pharisees  cannot  quarrel  with  that;  the 
Herodians  cannot  dispute  that.  Let  them  go 
home  and  think  that  over,  and  follow  the  wise 
counsel.  That  will  be  the  end  of  partisanship ; 
that  will  be  the  beginning  of  brotherhood. 
When  they  heard  these  words  they  marvelled, 
and  left  him  and  went  their  way ;  they  had 
been  given  the  political  sermon  that  they  asked 
for,  and  it  had  amazed  them  into  silence. 

The  Herodian's  share  in  our  Lord's  answer 
is  emphasized  every  Sunday.  We  are  warned 
unceasingly  to  render  unto  God  that  which  is 
God's.  That,  indeed,  is  supposed  by  some  to  be 
the  whole  purpose  of  religion, — to  get  people 


OUR  DUTY  TO  O-ffiSAR.  179 

to  discharge  their  ecclesiastical  and  their  theo- 
logical duties.  But  the  Pharisees,  the  care- 
ful observers  of  these  duties,  the  orthodox 
church-members,  have  their  share  also  in  the 
answer.  They  are  to  pay  due  allegiance  unto 
Caesar. 

Caesar  is  a  short  name  for  the  world  we  live 
in,  for  the  conditions  that  surround  us,  for  the 
society  in  which  we  move.  Caesar,  in  his 
Roman  palace,  was  not  an  especially  admirable 
person,  not  a  moral  pattern  for  good  children; 
any  number  of  hard  things  could  be  said  about 
him  truthfully.  And  Caesar  to-day,  though  he 
has  wonderfully  improved,  is  not  a  saint.  If 
we  are  to  believe  half  that  the  newspapers  tell 
us  about  political  life  in  this  country,  we  will 
see  that  the  New  Jerusalem  has  not  yet  de- 
scended out  of  heaven  into  any  discovered 
municipal  boundaries.  And  we  know  more  or 
less  ourselves  regarding  the  social  and  the  com- 
mercial situation. 

The  Christian  has  sometimes  been  tempted  to 
turn  his  face  toward  the  sunset,  and  to  put  the 
world  behind  him  as  lying  in  wickedness,  and 
to  wait  for  night  to  bury  it,  and  for  a  new  day 
to  dawn  in  a  world  to  come.  He  has  shut  him- 
self  up  in  a  monastery,  or  else,  that  kind  of 


180  OUR  DUTY  TO  C^SAR. 

seclusion  falling  into  disrepute,  he  has  kept  his 
door  close  shut  upon  the  world  outside.  He 
has  stayed  out  of  politics,  and  abstained  from 
society,  and  taken  but  slight  interest  in  the 
world.  His  conversation  is  in  heaven ;  his 
thoughts  and  hopes  are  there  rather  than  here. 
He  has  refused  to  pay  tribute  to  Csesar. 

But  Jesus  teaches  that  there  is  a  tribute 
which  belongs  to  Caesar.  The  first  duty  of  a 
man  is  not  to  his  own  soul;  it  is  to  God  for 
love  of  God,  and  then  to  our  brother  for  love 
of  our  brother,  and  after  that  to  our  own  selves. 
We  are  not  brought  into  being  here  that  we 
may  nurse  our  souls,  but  that  we  may  take  our 
part  in  the  life  about  us,  be  interested  in  its 
interests,  share  in  its  responsibilities,  and  do 
our  best  to  make  it  better.  Indeed,  it  is  not 
possible  for  us  to  develop  our  own  spiritual  life 
aright,  so  long  as  we  attend  chiefly  to  ourselves. 
Some  one  has  said  that  only  God  and  one  man 
are  necessary  in  any  religion  except  ours,  but 
that  God  and  two  men  are  necessary  for  even  a 
beginning  of  the  Christian  religion.  Christian- 
ity is  a  social  religion.  Its  virtues  are  social 
virtues.  It  is  impossible  to  practise  it  unless 
we  enter  into  the  company  of  others. 

The  Christian,  accordingly,  ought  not  to  be 


OUR  DUTY  TO  CESAR.  181 

SO  apprehensive  of  the  welfare  of  his  own  soul 
as  to  avoid  these  occasions  where  he  may  be  of 
help  to  others.  The  purpose  of  the  Christian 
religion  is  to  train  up  good  Christians  who  will 
do  their  duty  in  every  condition  of  life. 

Thus  the  Christian  citizen  will  consider  him- 
self called  as  a  Christian  to  take  an  active  inter- 
est in  politics.  He  will  remember  that  Christ 
came  not  to  save  the  church  only,  but  the  world ; 
and  he  will  be  religiously  concerned  in  all  that 
in  any  way  influences  the  world.  The  wise 
minister  will  set  a  good  example  to  his  people 
by  "putting  the  polls  upon  his  visiting-list." 
He  will  belong  to  the  noble  army  of  indepen- 
dent voters.  What  we  need  to-day  in  politics 
is  men  of  character. 

We  must  have  the  personal  interest  of  more 
good  people.  We  may  discuss  reforms  forever. 
Nothing  will  come  of  it.  When  good  men  are 
in  a  majority,  the  reform  has  come  already. 
Every  man  who  does  his  civic  duty  helps  toward 
that  end,  counts  one  toward  that  majority.  The 
Christians  in  the  days  of  Csesar  raised  no  stand- 
ard of  rebellion,  made  no  disturbance  in  the 
state,  simply  paid  their  tribute,  in  money,  in 
loyalty  to  all  that  was  deserving  of  loyalty,  in 
good  citizenship,  and  tried  to  be  good  Chris- 


182  OUR  DUTY  TO  C^SAR. 

tians  in  the  difficult  political  conditions  of  their 
time;  and  the  day  came  when  CaBsar  himself 
was  constrained  to  be  a  Christian. 

They  did  their  duty  to  Caesar,  and  it  was 
found  to  be  synonymous  with  duty  to  God. 


WAR  AND   POLITICS. 


"And  the  three  mighty  men  brake  through  the  host  of  the 
Philistines,  and  drew  water  out  of  the  well  of  Bethlehem,  that 
was  by  the  gate,  and  took  it,  and  brought  it  to  David ;  never- 
theless, he  would  not  drink  thereof,  but  poured  it  out  unto  the 
Lord."  — 2  Sam.  xxiii.  16. 


It  is  a  paragraph  from  the  annals  of  the  wars 
of  Israel.  David  was  fighting  the  Philistines. 
David  and  his  men  held  the  rocky  hills,  and 
the  Philistines  were  in  the  green  valley.  And 
one  day,  when  the  harvest  sun  was  hot  and 
shade  was  scanty  and  the  battle  long  and  weari- 
some, David  grew  very  thirsty.  And  he  thought, 
as  thirsty  people  will,  of  the  sweet  taste  of  cool 
water.  He  remembered  a  well  at  Bethlehem 
beside  the  city  gate.  He  had  played  about  it 
as  a  boy.  He  had  drunk  deep  draughts  out  of 
the  dark  depths  of  it  in  the  hot  afternoons. 
The  trees  grew  green  about  it ;  the  fresh  winds 
blew  over  it ;  deep  was  the  clear  water  in  the 
cool  recesses  of  the  rock. 

David  looked  out  over  the  tents  of  the  enemy, 
afar  into  the  green  valley,  and  fancied  that  he 
183 


184  WAR   AND  POLITICS. 

could  almost  see  the  little  village,  with  the  well 
beside  the  gate.  And  he  said,  half  to  himself, 
"  Oh,  that  I  had  a  drink  of  water  from  the  well 
of  Bethlehem !  "  And  standing  by  and  listen- 
ing were  those  three  stout  men.  And  straight 
they  started  for  that  well.  The  host  of  the 
Philistines  lay  encamped  between.  But  the 
men  brake  through.  Down  they  went,  defiant 
as  Goliath,  and  fought  their  way  by  might  of 
arm  to  the  well  of  Bethlehem  and  back.  And 
David  had  his  cup  of  water. 

The  earth  has  always  been  a  battlefield. 
Every  day  men  are  drawn  up  somewhere  into 
armed  array,  and  other  men,  for  good  cause  or 
for  bad,  are  making  their  murderous  way  into 
their  ranks.  Men  began  to  fight  beside  the 
gate  of  Eden,  and  have  been  fighting  ever  since. 
History  is  divided  into  chapters  by  the  cam- 
paigns of  the  wars  of  nations. 

The  first  hero  was  the  man  who  had  a  stouter 
fist  than  anybody  else  in  the  neighborhood. 
The  first  king  was  the  iron-armed  warrior  who 
was  able  by  his  strength  and  courage  to  com- 
mand the  respect  of  a  considerable  number  of 
heroes.  The  first  statesman  was  he  who  planned 
the  first  successful  attack  upon  a  dangerous 
enemy.     The  first  discoverer  ventured  into  new 


WAR   AND   POLITICS.  185 

countries  that  he  might  kill  their  inhabitants. 
The  first  poet  sang  his  song  over  heaps  of  hos- 
tile slain.  For  ages  men  were  accounted  of 
importance  in  proportion  to  their  ability  to 
harm  their  fellow-men. 

"  Saul  hath  slain  his  thousands,"  shouted  the 
people  — therefore  Saul  is  a  great  deal  of  a 
man ;  "  but  David  his  tens  of  thousands,'  rang 
the  answer — therefore  David  is  ten  times  as 
much  of  a  man  as  Saul.  The  whole  world  was 
in  the  condition  of  our  frontier  mining  towns 
before  the  arrival  of  the  railroad,  —  every  man 
carried  his  materials  for  murder  everywhere  he 
went.  The  priest  was  set  beside  the  soldier  in 
the  estimation  of  the  people  only  because  he 
was  thought  to  wield  invisible  weapons,  sharper 
than  swords  and  longer  than  lances.  Women 
were  not  considered  of  much  consequence  be- 
cause they  could  not  fight. 

At  first  men  fought  like  animals  for  the 
sheer  love  of  fighting.  After  that  they  fought 
for  reputation.  They  desired  the  good  opinion 
of  their  neighbors.  And  as  ideals  had  not 
risen  then  much  above  mere  physical  achieve- 
ment, and  there  was  small  appreciation  yet  of 
wisdom  or  of  sanctity,  the  man  who  would  win 
admiration  must  be  strong,  fearless  of  danger, 


186  WAR  AND  POLITICS. 

ignorant  of  pity,  careless  of  pain.     Naturally 
the  ambitious  turned  to  war. 

That  is  what  public  opinion  does.  It  sets 
the  standard  of  ambition.  It  makes  a  vast  dif- 
ference with  a  nation  whether  its  people  have  a . 
high  or  low  ideal  of  excellence.  One  of  the 
most  important  definitions  in  our  dictionary  is 
the  definition  of  greatness.  What  is  it  to  be 
great  ?  Is  it  to  dangle  at  one's  waist  a  string 
of  scalps  ?  Is  it  to  control  a  ballot-box  of 
ignorant  votes  ?  Is  it  to  live  in  a  large  house 
and  have  a  bank  account  running  into  larger 
figures  ?  Is  it  to  bear  the  name  of  an  honorable 
family  ?  Is  it  to  know  more  than  one's  neigh- 
bors? What  a  difference  it  makes  what  answer 
people  in  general  make  to  these  significant 
questions  !  Or  is  it  to  be  honest  in  our  deal- 
ings, to  be  generous,  to  be  considerate  of  others, 
to  be  a  learner  and  a  teacher  of  truths  that  are 
worth  knowing,  to  fight  for  right,  to  be  of  some 
use  in  the  world  ?  Is  that  what  we  account  to 
be  the  requisite  of  greatness  ? 

Certain  it  is  that  whatever  the  majority  of 
people  find  admirable  in  human  life  thousands 
of  human  beings  will  strive  after.  A  great  part 
of  the  mission  of  the  church  in  the  world  is  to 
set  a  standard  of  appreciation,  to  teach  a  true 
definition  of  genuine  greatness. 


WAR    AND   t»OLItrCS.  187 

These  three  heroes,  however,  fought  for 
neither  of  these  wide  reasons, — not  for  love 
of  fighting,  not  for  desire  of  reputation.  They 
fought  for  David.  This  they  did  for  him. 
That  which  uplifted  their  adventure  over  all 
other  brave  deeds  of  their  day  was  their  loyalty 
and  love. 

The  ideal  soldier  fights  not  for  himself :  he 
fights  for  David.  His  David  may  be  a  great 
leader,  or  a  great  cause,  or  a  great  country ;  but 
there  must  be  a  David.  Somewhere  behind  the 
soldier,  watching  his  brave  onslaught  upon  the 
hostile  host,  ready  to  applaud  as  he  faces  dan- 
ger, ready  to  welcome  and  reward  his  victorious 
return,  his  commendation  the  soldier's  greenest 
laurel  —  somewhere  must  stand  great  David. 

The  day  has  gone  when  armies  fought  like 
beasts  in  the  black  forests  for  love  of  murder. 
The  day  is  passing  when  nations  join  in  battle, 
like  bullies  in  back  allies,  for  reputation,  in 
revenge  for  fancied  insults,  in  vindication  of 
what  they  are  pleased  to  call  their  honor,  or  for 
the  sake  of  stealing  one  another's  goods  or 
lands.  We  have  driven  that  sort  of  fighting 
out  of  decent  society.  It  is  left  now  altogether 
to  fools,  who  make  themselves  a  laughing-stock 
in  duels ;  or  to  ruffians,  whom  the  police  carry 


188  WAR  AND  POLITICS. 

away  in  patrol  wagons.  And  by  virtue  of  that 
uplifting  of  public  opinion  of  which  I  spoke,  by 
more  general  learning  of  the  religion  of  Jesus 
Christ,  we  will  presently  drive  it  out  of  the 
lives  of  nations.  We  have  not  yet  quite  come 
to  realize  that  whatever  is  a  crime  for  an  indi- 
vidual is  a  crime  also  for  a  nation.  But  we  are 
getting  nearer  to  the  truth. 

The  day  will  be  a  long  time  coming  when  all 
the  swords  may  be  beaten  into  ploughshares, 
and  no  man  need  any  longer  learn  the  art  of 
war.  Because  there  will  for  a  long  time  be 
ignorant  people  in  the  world  who  cannot  per- 
ceive an  argument  unless  it  smites  them  in  the 
face.  Nothing  but  might  can  teach  them  right. 
The  just  cause  will  long  need  to  be  defended  by 
the  stern  hands  of  soldiers.  But  the  day  will 
come  when  no  man  will  fight  unless  he  fights 
for  a  cause  worth  fighting  for. 

The  heroes  of  David's  army  adventured  their 
lives  for  sake  of  David.  Men  in  our  own 
time,  whom  we  have  in  reverent  memory,  have 
given  their  lives  because  they  loved  their  coun- 
try. They  died  that  we  might  live.  Not  for 
glory,  but  for  liberty ;  not  for  love  of  battle,  but 
for  devotion  to  a  cause,  they  died.  This  great 
united  nation,  with  its  just  laws,  with  its  secure 


WAR  AND  1>0LITICS.  189 

institutions,  with  its  magnificent  future,  is  the 
heritage  of  the  heroes  of  the  heroes  of  the  Civil 
War.  Happy  the  land  for  whose  prosperity  her 
sons  are  not  afraid  to  die ! 

Back  came  the  heroes  with  their  cups  of 
water.  And  what  did  David  do?  He  would 
not  drink  it.  He  took  the  battered  cup,  as  if  it 
were  the  silver  chalice  of  a  sacrament,  and 
poured  the  water  reverently  upon  the  ground, 
like  a  libation  in  a  sacrifice.  But  why  ?  It  was 
the  same  water  of  which  David  had  drunk  be- 
fore often  and  carelessly.  The  look  of  it,  the 
taste  of  it,  had  not  been  changed.  It  was  a 
common  cup  of  common  water.  Again  and 
again  at  Bethlehem,  beside  the  well,  one  friend 
and  another  had  given  David  the  same  kind  of 
cup,  filled  with  the  same  kind  of  water,  and  he 
had  never  thought  of  refusing  it.  It  was  excel- 
lent water,  but  he  had  never  thought  before  that 
there  was  anything  sacred  about  it. 

But  now  he  would  not  drink  it.  Now  he 
could  but  stand,  thirsty  as  he  was,  and  pour  it 
all  out  upon  the  ground,  with  tears  in  his  eyes. 
Why?  Because  the  cup  of  water  had  become 
the  symbol  of  a  splendid  deed.  The  cup  meant 
love.  That  is  what  the  graves  mean  where  our 
heroes   lie,  over  which,  with  words   of   proud 


190  WAR  AND  POLITICS. 

remembrance,  and  voice  of  prayer,  and  strains 
of  the  old  music  of  the  marching  army,  men 
scatter  flowei-s.  Sacred  graves !  Symbols  of 
the  love  that  brave  men  had  for  liberty,  for 
union,  for  our  native  land.  We  may  not  have 
known  the  man  who  lay  down  thirty  years  ago 
in  this  grave  or  in  that,  weary  with  the  fighting 
of  our  battles.  Even  his  name  may  have  a 
strange  sound  in  our  ears.  But  he  was  a 
soldier ;  he  was  one  of  the  mighty  men  who  for 
our  sake  broke  through  the  host  which  com- 
passed us  about,  and  brought  us  the  water  of 
natural  life  out  of  the  beleaguered  well  of 
liberty.  Honor  to  him,  and  gratitude,  and 
reverent  remembrance ! 

Would  that  men  might  love  their  country  in 
the  days  of  peace  as  some  have  loved  it  in  the 
days  of  war,  and  be  willing  to  give  their  lives 
in  its  service  still,  not  by  dying,  but  by  living 
for  its  welfare.  Sometimes  it  seems  as  if  the 
patriots,  having  saved  the  nation,  had  given 
over  its  best  interests  for  safe-keeping  to  the 
politicians.  There  is  this  difference  between  a 
good  patriot  and  a  bad  politician;  the  patriot 
fights  not  for  himself,  but  the  politician  fights 
for  himself,  first  and  last  and  all  the  time. 

It  is  the  bane  of  this  great  nation,  in  our 


WAR   AND  POLITICS.  191 

chief  cities,  in  the  administration  of  our  State 
governments,  in  the  legislative  assemblies  that 
sit  in  endless  and  fruitless  debate  in  the  Capitol 
at  Washington,  that  the  men  are  few  who  serve 
as  David's  heroes  did,  out  of  enthusiastic  loyalty, 
for  love  of  a  leader,  of  a  great  cause,  of  a  great 
country.  Self,  self,  self,  and  money,  money, 
money  —  these  are  the  inglorious  watchwords 
of  the  ignominious  contention. 

Every  man  in  every  office  whose  main  pur- 
pose is  to  get  wealth  without  giving  us  a  full 
return  of  useful  service  for  it ;  every  politician 
in  every  party  whose  feet  are  swift  in  the  pur- 
suit of  plunder,  who  fights  only  that  he  may 
steal  afterwards,  is  a  traitor  to  the  country. 
He  is  a  rebel.  He  must  be  met  and  whipped 
as  whole  armies  of  stout  men,  a  thousand  times 
better  than  he  is,  were  sent  in  swift  flight  in  the 
Civil  War.  He  is  a  spy,  sneaking  in  the  camp 
that  he  may  betray  our  Israel  into  the  hands  of 
the  Philistines.  He  must  be  fought,  not  with 
bullets,  but  with  ballots. 

It  is  a  fine  thing  to  be  a  good  soldier.  It  is 
even  finer  to  be  a  good  citizen.  It  is  a  great 
deed  to  die  for  one's  country;  but  it  is  more 
glorious,  yes,  and  more  difficult,  to  live  for 
one's  country,  to   love  one's  land  and  nation 


192  WAR  AND  POLITICS. 

with  a  love  so  true  that  when  national  interests 
and  local  interests  come  into  conflict,  the  per- 
sonal advantage  will  drop  out  of  sight.  Thirty 
years  ago  we  needed  soldiers,  and  men  came 
forward  who  counted  even  the  love  of  home 
less  than  the  love  of  country.  To-day  the 
great  need  is  for  citizens.  We  have  enough 
men  in  this  nation,  counting  men  as  the  census- 
taker  counts  them ;  but  what  we  need  is  not 
more  men  but  more  man.  We  want  a  resolute, 
undaunted  army  of  manly  men,  in  every  station 
in  life, — in  the  pulpit,  in  the  office,  in  the  study, 
in  the  mill,  —  who  are  unfeignedly  devoted  to 
the  interests  of  the  community,  to  whom  the  re- 
sponsibility of  the  ballot  is  a  religious  matter, 
and  whom  no  manner  of  party  allegiance,  no 
bribes  nor  threats,  can  induce  to  follow  any 
leader  who  proposes  to  lead  them  against  the 
welfare  of  our  great  nation. 

Perish  the  Democratic  party !  perish  the  Re- 
publican party  I  —  if  the  leaders  of  either  one 
put  plunder  in  the  place  of  patriotism,  and  plan 
for  their  own  mercenary  interests  against  the 
advantage  of  their  country,  and  so  turn  rebel. 
Higher  than  any  party  is  the  United  States  of 
America,  over  which  may  the  God  of  nations, 
year  by  year,  extend  his  protecting  benediction ! 


THE  CHRISTIAN  IN  THE  CITY. 


The  Bible  is  the  book  of  the  city.  It  is  true 
that  the  first  heroes  of  the  Bible  story  lived  in 
a  garden;  but  there  was  no  city  at  that  time 
for  them  to  live  in.  It  is  true,  also,  that  as  the 
history  progresses  the  Bible  people  are  found 
dwelling  in  tents,  and  wandering  over  the  vast 
plains  of  the  East,  and  going  down  on  journeys 
into  Egypt,  and  making  long  journeys  hither 
and  thither  in  the  plains  of  Sinai ;  but  we  find 
that  they  were  always  in  search  of  a  city :  that 
was  their  continual  ambition.  They  were  for- 
ever looking  forward  to  the  time  when  they 
would  possess  a  city.  And  by  and  by,  when 
they  did  at  last  come  to  dwell  in  a  city  of  their 
own,  how  proud  they  were  of  it,  and  how 
much  they  loved  it,  and  how  loyal  they  were  to 
it !  In  the  days  of  their  exile,  when  they  were 
cast  out  of  the  city,  and  their  adversaries  had  it 
in  possession,  they  lamented  most  of  all  that 
they  were  deprived  of  the  sight  of  those  beloved 
towers.  "  If  I  forget  thee,  O  Jerusalem,  let  my 
193 


194  THE  CHRISTIAN  IN  THE  CITY. 

right  hand  forget  her  cunning.  If  I  do  not  re- 
member thee,  let  my  tongue  cleave  to  the  roof 
of  my  mouth."  They  said  their  prayers,  in 
those  days  of  desolation,  turning  their  faces 
toward  the  ruins  of  the  dismantled  walls.  And 
still,  even  to  this  present,  do  their  descendants 
make  their  mournful  pilgrimages  to  that  holy 
city,  held  by  the  infidel,  that  they  may  pray 
and  grieve  beside  it. 

Our  Lord  when  he  came  was  born,  it  is  true, 
in  a  village,  and  was  nurtured  in  a  village  —  an 
excellent  place  for  the  first  years  of  a  man's 
life.  But  when  the  time  came  for  him  to  begin 
his  real  work,  he  did  what  thousands  of  young 
men  are  doing  now,  —  he  moved  into  the  city. 
And  instead  of  choosing  Jerusalem,  the  town 
where  the  temple  stood  and  where  the  priests 
and  doctors  lived,  the  city  of  worship,  he  chose 
to  dwell  amidst  the  brisk  streets  of  Capernaum. 

By  and  by  when  the  apostles  began  their 
work,  they  centred  their  missions  in  the  city. 
Presently,  so  strong  was  the  hold  of  Christian- 
ity upon  the  cities,  that  the  name  of  "  pagan,'* 
or  villager,  and  "  heathen,"  or  heath-dweller, 
came  to  have  their  modern  meanings.  And  not 
only  did  Christianity  begin  its  work  in  a  city, 
but  in  the  tost  l)Qok  of  the  Bible,  wherein  the 


THE  CHKISTIAN  IN   THE  CITY.  195 

apostle  John  beholds  his  vision  of  the  future, 
he  sees  the  Golden  Age,  the  ideal  life  of  the 
race,  not  under  the  simile  of  a  holy  garden  or 
a  holy  farm  or  a  holy  village,  or  even  a  holy 
temple,  —  he  sees  a  holy  city  coming  down  from 
God  out  of  heaven.  If  there  is  any  place  in 
the  world  where  a  Christian  ought  to  feel  at 
home,  it  is  the  city ;  and  if  there  is  any  place 
which  more  than  another  needs  the  presence  of 
good  Christians,  it  is  the  city. 

The  Christian  will  be  remarked  among  his 
fellow-citizens  by  his  consciousness  of  civic  re- 
sponsibility. He  will  be  on  the  side  of  every- 
thing which  looks  towards  the  betterment  of  the 
city ;  he  will  be  distinctly  against  anything 
which  hinders  the  well-being  of  any  citizen. 

The  prosperity  of  the  town  depends  not  so 
much  upon  its  facilities  for  making  money  as 
upon  its  facilities  for  making  character.  Not 
mills,  but  men,  mark  the  progress  of  the  muni- 
cipality. With  his  means,  with  his  influence, 
with  his  time  and  energy  and  interest,  the 
Christian  helps  conscientiously  and  enthusiasti- 
cally in  all  good  causes. 

The  Christian,  that  is,  in  proportion  to  the 
earnestness  of  his  Christianity,  is  a  public-spir- 
ited citizen.     He  is  on  the  side  of  the  town. 


196  THE  CHRISTIAN   IN  THE  CITY. 

He  believes  in  supporting  its  industries  and 
its  institutions,  in  maintaining  and  extending  its 
good  name,  in  applauding  and  encouraging  its 
most  able  and  useful  inhabitants.  When  his 
neighbor  writes  a  book,  he  reads  it ;  when  his 
fellow  townsman  paints  a  picture,  he  admires  it 
to  the  full  limit  of  his  taste  and  conscience,  and 
if  he  has  money  enough  he  buys  it ;  a  speech,  a 
piece  of  music,  an  invention,  a  notable  achieve- 
ment brought  into  being  within  the  city  bounds, 
the  good  Christian  citizen  makes  the  most  of. 
He  would  not  have  any  man  of  parts  or  gifts  go 
away  from  his  native  place  to  find  encourage- 
ment. He  remembers  that  Jesus  quoted  in  dis- 
approval that  proverb,  which  is  so  lamentably 
true  to  human  nature,  "A  prophet  hath  no 
honor  in  his  own  country." 

The  Christian  is  interested  in  the  public 
schools,  is  glad  to  serve  them  if  opportunity 
offers,  and  is  careful  as  to  his  vote  for  members 
of  the  board  of  education.  He  approves  of  such 
a  Christian  institution  in  the  city  as  a  public 
library,  and  of  such  another  Christian  institu- 
tion as  a  public  conservatory  of  flowers  ;  and 
would  have  both  of  them  open  to  the  people 
seven  days  in  the  week.  He  is  interested  in 
public  expositions,  which  give  opportunity  to 


THE  CHRISTIAN  IN   THE   CITY.  197 

all  the  citizens  to  see  what  the  city  is  accom- 
plishing ;  he  believes  in  national  and  civic  holi- 
days, and  desires  to  have  them  kept  in  such 
manner  as  to  emphasize  the  great  truth  which 
they  are  meant  to  teach ;  he  would  have  a  tablet 
or  a  stone  or  a  statue  set  beside  every  spot  of 
historic  consequence  in  the  town,  bringing  the 
past  into  vital  and  helpful  contact  with  the 
present ;  he  desires  to  see  the  public  buildings 
of  the  city  erected  in  such  manner  of  architec- 
ture that  they  shall  both  please  and  uplift  the 
minds  of  all  who  behold  them,  and  kept  in  such 
cleanliness  and  beauty  as  shall  set  a  good  exam- 
ple to  all  the  citizens ;  he  would  have  the  parks 
made  beautiful  and  accessible,  and  civic  bands 
of  musicians  playing  in  them  for  the  delight  of 
the  people  on  the  summer  evenings ;  he  would 
have  the  attention  of  the  councilmen  turned 
towards  provision,  not  only  for  the  health  and 
protection,  but  for  the  pleasure,  of  the  people. 

The  Christian  holds,  also,  that  his  duty 
towards  the  city  is  not  discharged  by  the  pay- 
ment of  the  tax  which  supports  the  policemen 
and  meets  the  expenses  of  the  county  jail.  He 
would  have  evil  prevented  rather  than  pun- 
ished. He  is  one  of  those  who  believe  that  it 
is  not  well  to  be  forever  spending  money  for 


198  THE  CHRISTIAN  IN  THE  CITY. 

ambulances  and  surgeons  at  the  foot  of  a  dan- 
gerous cliff ;  better  set  a  stout  fence  along  the 
top  of  the  cliff  to  keep  people  from  falling 
over.  Accordingly,  the  Christian  citizen  is 
greatly  interested  in  the  moral  issues  of  all 
civic  questions.  If  there  should  such  a  propo- 
sition be  made  as  Mr.  Stead  supposes,  that  upon 
the  first  day  of  January  an  altar  should  be 
erected  upon  a  hill  east  of  the  town,  and  dedi- 
cated to  Bacchus,  and  a  young  man  chosen 
from  the  youth  of  the  city  should  be  offered  as 
a  living  sacrifice  to  that  heathen  deity,  the 
whole  city  would  be  up  in  arms ;  and  if  upon 
the  first  day  of  July  a  similar  plan  should  be 
proposed,  that  upon  another  hill  to  the  west, 
another  altar  should  be  raised  to  Venus,  and  a 
young  woman  should  there  be  made  a  living 
sacrifice,  there  would  be  another  and  still  more 
vehement  outcry.  People  would  no  longer  con- 
sider what  party  politics  they  had,  or  in  what 
church  they  held  their  membership,  —  all  the 
Christian  citizens  would  stand  together  in  unan- 
imous resistance.  But  that  is  just  what  hap- 
pens in  every  city  every  day,  without  much 
opposition.  These  unspeakable  divinities  of 
the  pagan  past,  these  deified  courtiers  of  the 
devil,  are  still  notoriously  worshipped ;  and  day 


THE  CHRISTIAN  IN  THE  CITY.  199 

by  day,  in  tens  and  scores,  young  men  and 
maidens  are  sacrificed  to  them,  and  no  reckoning 
made  of  it.  The  Christian  citizen  cannot  live 
in  comfort  while  these  abominations  go  on  about 
him.  When  there  is  a  majority  of  good  Chris- 
tian citizens,  there  will  be  an  end  to  such  a 
state  of  things  as  this. 

The  Christian  recognizes  that  one  of  the 
greatest  enemies  of  Christianity,  and  one  of 
the  strongest  provocations  to  crime,  is  pov- 
erty. And  he  knows  how  to  measure  poverty. 
Poverty,  unless  we  set  a  definition  to  it,  is 
a  most  evasive  word.  He  who  has  one  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  is  poor  in  comparison 
with  his  neighbor  who  has  one  million  dollars. 
We  are  all  of  us  poor  compared  with  certain 
others.  But  poverty,  accurately  defined,  is 
deprivation  of  all  opportunity  to  enrich  one's 
life.  He  who  has  no  chance  to  better  himself, 
who  has  no  encouragement  and  no  outlook,  no 
satisfaction  in  the  present  and  no  hope  for  the 
future,  is  poor.  And  because  the  city  is  all 
one  family,  and  we  are  bound  together  in  bonds 
of  Christian  kinship,  it  is  not  right  that  any  of 
our  brothers  and  sisters  should  be  lacking  in 
any  of  those  opportunities  which  belong  to 
every  child  of  God.     And  although  the  Chris- 


200  THE  CHBISTIAN  IN  THE  CITY. 

tian  may  not  know  exactly  what  to  do,  his 
sympathies,  at  least,  are  in  the  right  direction, 
and  he  desires  that  all  things  possible  should 
be  done  to  give  opportunity  to  all  who  lack. 
He  would  have  the  city  see  to  it  that  there  are 
clean  streets  in  front  of  all  the  tenement 
houses.  He  would  have  sanitary  law  observed 
to  the  uttermost. 

The  Christian  citizen,  realizing  these  muni- 
cipal responsibilities,  knows,  also,  that  there  is 
need  of  good  officials  in  the  city  government 
to  help  him,  to  represent  him ;  and,  accordingly, 
he  takes  his  share  in  their  selection  and  elec- 
tion. He  wants  men  who  will  actually  repre- 
sent him^  and  not  some  ring  or  corporation.  If 
he  finds  that  any  councilman  represents  such 
other  influence,  he  votes  next  time  for  some 
other  representative. 

In  electing  the  officers  of  the  Christian  city, 
the  Christian  citizen  has  no  regard  to  their 
party  membership.  The  bane  of  municipal  ad- 
ministration in  this  country  is  the  admixture 
of  national  politics.  The  only  requisite  of  a 
good  official  in  a  city  is  efficiency.  It  makes 
no  difference  whether  he  is  a  Republican  or  a 
Democrat,  any  more  than  it  matters  whether  he 
is  a  Presbyterian  or  a  Roman  Catholic.     We 


THE  CHRISTIAN  IN  THE  CITY.  201 

care  no  more  for  his  opinion  in  regard  to  the 
tariff,  than  for  his  position  in  respect  to  the 
Westminster  Confession  of  Faith. 

We  want  a  man  who  will  fulfil  his  duties. 
For,  after  all,  the  city  is  only  a  larger  office- 
building,  in  which  the  houses  take  the  place  of 
the  rooms,  and  the  streets  take  the  place  of  the 
halls.  There  is  no  reason  why  a  city  should 
not  be  managed  as  well  as  an  office-building. 
And  the  city  is  only  another  kind  of  club,  to 
which  we  all  belong,  and  in  which  we  ought 
to  be  served  with  the  common  conveniences,  re- 
gardless of  our  income,  as  men  are  served  in 
their  clubs.  The  city  ought  to  be  conducted 
on  Christian  principles.  There  is  no  distinction 
between  good  business  and  good  religion.  That 
does  not  mean  that  there  ought  to  be  a  prayer- 
meeting  in  the  council-chamber  before  every 
session ;  but  it  does  mean  that  those  who  have 
the  rule  in  the  city,  and  those  who  set  them  in 
authority,  ought  to  desire  simple  efficiency  in 
all  municipal  administration,  and  to  apply  no 
other  test  to  candidates  in  city  elections. 

One  great  difficulty  with  municipal  govern- 
ment, in  the  opinion  of  some  wise  people,  is  that 
there  is  not  enough  to  do  which  is  worth  doing. 
It  is  the  people  who  live  in  the  little  country 


202  THE  CHRISTIAN   IN  THE  CITY. 

towns,  where  all  the  interests  are  petty,  who 
fall  into  miserable  gossip  and  live  narrow  lives. 
It  is  the  little  narrow  country  parish  in  which 
there  are  all  sorts  of  parochial  fights  going  on 
from  one  end  of  the  year  to  the  other.  And  it 
is  among  those  who  have  obscure  and  insignifi- 
cant duties  that  one  finds  obscure  and  insig- 
nificant people. 

Accordingly,  on  the  continent  of  Europe  and 
in  Great  Britain,  where  the  best-governed  cities 
upon  this  planet  are  to  be  found,  they  are  pro- 
ceeding upon  the  principle  of  giving  a  great 
deal  of  responsibility  into  the  hands  of  the 
councilmen.  The  more  they  have  to  do  with 
the  great  public  parks,  with  the  management  of 
libraries,  with  the  water  and  the  gas  and  the 
means  of  transportation,  and  the  natural  mo- 
nopolies of  the  municipality,  to  be  conducted  in 
the  interests  of  all  the  citizens,  the  more  the 
great  burdens  of  the  town  are  laid  upon  them, 
so  much  more  will  they  come  to  feel  themselves 
the  servants  of  the  city.  And  the  small  men 
will  recognize  their  inadequate  smallness.  It 
will  probably  be  some  time  before  we  have  an- 
other such  company  of  representatives  as  we 
have  at  present,  to  our  serious  cost,  in  Con- 
gress;   for    great    questions    have    confronted 


THE  CHRISTIAN  IN  THE  CITY.  203 

them,  and  they  have  shown  themselves  unable 
to  give  answers.  We  must  have  men  wise 
enough  to  solve  our  problems.  The  greater  the 
problems,  the  plainer  the  need  of  the  best  men 
we  have. 

The  whole  desire  of  the  man  in  the  office 
should  be  to  serve  the  people  to  the  utmost; 
and  the  purpose  of  the  people  should  be  to  get 
a  steady  and  efficient  servant.  It  would  be 
absurd  to  put  a  man  in  charge  of  a  Bessemer 
mill  who  did  not  know  the  difference  between 
iron  ore  and  ferro-manganese ;  but  no  more 
absurd  than  to  put  a  man  into  a  seat  in  a  city 
council  who  has  no  real  knowledge  of  the  ques- 
tions which  he  is  to  pass  upon,  who  is  not  only 
ignorant,  but  contentedly  and  conceitedly  ignor- 
ant, of  the  history  of  his  city,  of  the  principles 
of  municipal  government,  of  the  conditions  of 
civic  prosperity,  of  the  new  teachings  of  soci- 
ology and  political  economy. 

The  Christian  citizen  goes  into  politics  for 
the  good  of  the  city.  When  there  are  enough 
Christians  of  the  right  aggressive  kind  in  poli- 
tics the  city  will  begin  to  be  God's  city. 

That  was  a  significant  dialogue  which  took 
place  between  Abraham  and  God  concerning 
the    destruction    of    Sodom.      Abraham    said. 


204  THE  CHRISTIAN  IN  THE  CITY. 

Suppose  there  are  fifty  righteous  within  the 
city,  would  you  not  spare  the  town  for  the  sake 
of  fifty  men.  And  God  said,  Yes.  But  sup- 
pose there  should  lack  five  of  the  fifty,  would 
you  destroy  the  city  for  lack  of  five?  And 
God  said,  No.  But  should  there  be  but  forty, 
or  thirty,  or  twenty,  or  only  ten?  And  God 
said.  If  there  be  but  ten  righteous  men  in 
Sodom  I  will  spare  the  city.  It  was  a  fair 
agreement.  For  God  knew  that  even  ten  good, 
zealous,  earnest,  righteous  citizens,  examples  of 
good  manners,  and  missionaries  of  true  religion, 
could  save  the  wickedest  of  cities. 


NEW   QUESTS    FOR  NEW   KNIGHTS. 


"And  the  Philistines  were  gathered  together  into  a  troop, 
where  was  a  plot  of  ground  full  of  lentils  ;  and  the  people  fled 
from  the  Philistines.  But  he  stood  in  the  midst  of  the  plot, 
and  defended  it,  and  slew  the  Philistines;  and  the  Lord 
Wrought  a  great  victory."  —  2  Sam.  xxiii.  11, 12. 


It  is  evident  that  chivalry  did  not  begin  with 
the  Crusades.  There  were  brave  knights  even 
in  the  days  of  David. 

Some  think  that  the  name  "knight''  first 
meant  "a  youth,"  in  which  case  it  stands  syn- 
onymous with  the  strength  of  youth,  with  the 
enthusiasm,  the  zeal,  the  fire,  the  hope,  and  the 
high  purposes  of  young  manhood.  Others  say 
that  it  means  "  a  servant ; "  in  which  case  the 
fittest  motto  of  ideal  knighthood  is  that  prince- 
liest  of  all  heraldic  inscriptions,  "  Ich  dien  "  ("  I 
serve  ").  And  our  minds  go  back  to  the  supreme 
and  consummate  flower  and  pattern  of  chivalry, 
the  ideal  of  all  knighthood,  as  of  all  worthiest 
manhood,  who  said,  "  The  Son  of  man  came  not 
to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to  minister,  and  to 
give  his  life  a  ransom  for  many.'' 
205 


206        NEW  QUESTS  FOR  NEW   KNIGHTS. 

We  may  put  the  two  meanings  of  the  word 
together.  To  be  a  knight  is  to  be  a  strong, 
enthusiastic,  loyal  servant.  The  true  knight 
thinks  not  of  himself,  but  of  another,  his  master. 
And  who  is  his  master?  In  feudal  days  his 
lord  at  arms,  his  prince,  his  king;  but  also, 
then  and  always,  the  oppressed,  the  weak,  the 
down-trodden,  the  enslaved.  He  was  a  true 
knight  who,  riding  on  the  way  between  Jeru- 
salem and  Jericho,  dismounted  when  he  saw 
the  wounded  man  fallen  by  the  roadside,  and 
ministered  to  him,  and  set  him  on  his  own  beast, 
and  took  him  to  an  inn  and  cared  for  him. 
The  Knights  Hospitallers  lived  in  Jerusalem 
centuries  before  the  First  Crusade.  While  the 
priest  and  the  levite,  and  all  men  who,  like 
them,  pass  by  unhelpful  on  the  other  side,  are 
the  un-knightly. 

The  knight  may  be  called  a  knight  or  not ; 
he  may  wage  his  war  against  the  Saracens  or 
the  Philistines,  or  the  French  or  the  Americans ; 
against  dishonest  politicians,  against  thieves  and 
liars,  against  owners  of  unsanitary  tenements, 
or  priests  and  levites  who  keep  the  temples  of 
Bacchus  or  of  Venus,  or  conspirators  against 
the  rights  and  liberties  of  their  fellow-men — no 
matter,  so  he  has  the  true  chivalric  spirit  in 
his  heart. 


NEW   QUESTS   FOB  NEW   KNIGHTS.        207 

Here  is  a  fight  in  a  field  of  lentils,  in  a  garden 
of  beans.  The  Philistines  are  gathered  together 
into  a  troop,  and  the  people  flee  before  them. 
The  people  are  the  men  of  Israel,  the  citizens 
and  soldiers  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  the  rep- 
resentatives of  all  righteous  enterprises.  The 
Philistines  stand  for  all  opposers  of  the  right ; 
they  are  the  army  upon  whose  banners  are 
written  the  battle-cries  of  ignorance  and  bigotry, 
and  selfishness  and  tyranny,  and  lust  of  gain 
and  love  of  sin. 

It  is  the  old  fight  that  began  in  Eden,  and  has 
gone  on,  campaign  after  campaign,  unto  this 
present.  The  armies  of  the  devil  oppose  the 
armies  of  the  living  God.  Every  reformation 
has  been  a  triumphant  battle  in  this  ancient 
war.  Every  noble  purpose  undertaken  for  the 
good  of  man  has  been  a  skirmish  in  this  never- 
ending  struggle.  Abraham  and  Isaac  and 
Jacob,  Moses  and  Joshua  and  David,  Peter 
and  Paul  and  John,  Godfrey  and  Richard  and 
Tancred,  Bernard  and  Francis  and  Dominic, 
Luther  and  Cromwell  and  Wesley,  were  all 
soldiers  enlisted  on  the  right  side  of  this  great 
fight.  Every  man  who  is  trying  in  any  sort  of 
way  to  put  light  into  the  place  of  darkness,  and 
to  make  the  city  a  city  of  God,  is  taking  his 


208       NEW  QUESTS   FOR  NEW  KNIGHTS. 

part  in  this  righteous  battle,  and  is  a  knight  in 
the  sacred  order  of  the  Lord  Christ.  The 
Knights  Templars  of  the  old  time  had  it  for 
their  purpose  to  secure  to  every  dweller  in 
Jerusalem,  and  to  every  visitor  thereto,  an  op- 
portunity to  live  like  a  Christian,  if  he  would. 
We  need  Knights  Templars  still  who  shall 
discharge  that  necessary  service. 

The  Philistines  were  gathered  together  into 
a  troop.  They  were  drawn  up  in  battle  order, 
had  some  sort  of  discipline  among  them,  were 
of  one  mind  about  this  grim  business.  They 
were  unanimously  resolved  to  keep  possession 
of  the  field  of  beans.  The  people  of  Israel,  on 
the  other  hand,  were  disorganized,  destitute  of 
discipline,  and  thus  able  to  make  but  a  scatter- 
ing and  ineffective  fight.  And  the  natural 
consequence  was  that  the  people  fled.  Under 
such  conditions  the  people  are  bound  to  flee. 
One  of  the  essentials  of  success  is  union.  The 
people  of  God,  the  men  and  women  who  have 
a  preference  for  light,  if  they  are  ever  to  accom- 
plish reformation  and  betterment,  must  be  gath- 
ered together,  as  the  Philistines  were,  into  a 
troop. 

Take  the  bad  business  which  is  notorious  all 
over  this  country,  of  municipal  misgovernment. 


NEW   QUESTS    FOR   NEW    KNIGHTS.        209 

It  is  that  old  fight  in  the  beanfield  over  again. 
The  Philistines  are  gathered  together  into  a 
ring.  The  good  people  who  oppose  them  in 
the  interest  of  honest  administration  and  of 
public  welfare  are  without  discipline,  without 
organization,  without  agreement.  And  the  peo- 
ple flee.     Of  course  the  people  flee  ! 

The  beanfield  is  the  city.  What  is  the  pur- 
pose of  a  beanfield?  It  is  to  provide  hungry- 
people  with  beans.  What  is  the  purpose  of  a 
city  ?  It  is  to  provide  opportunity  and  protec- 
tion and  the  accompaniments  of  decent  living 
for  its  citizens.  The  only  rightful  errand  that 
men  have  into  a  cultivated  field  is  to  till  the 
field,  or  to  gather  the  fruits  of  it  for  its  owners. 
The  only  rightful  occupation  for  the  adminis- 
trators of  a  city  is  to  further  in  all  kinds  of 
ways  the  well-being  of  the  people.  They  are 
the  people's  stewards. 

A  city  is  only  another  form  of  a  great  office- 
building  or  apartment-house,  in  which  the 
streets  are  the  halls  and  stairways,  and  our 
dwellings  are  the  rooms.  And  a  city  ought  to 
be,  and  can  be,  managed  as  well  as  any  office- 
building.  It  can  be  kept  clean.  It  can  be  pro- 
tected against  disturbances.  It  can  be  secured 
in  the  possession  of  good  air  and  good  sunlight. 


210        NEW   QUESTS   FOR   NEW   KNIGHTS. 

It  can  be  provided  with  perfect  service  in  the 
matter  of  sanitation,  of  transportation,  of  light 
and  heat  and  water.  It  can  be  made  attractive, 
adorned  with  works  of  art,  decked  out  with 
flower-beds  and  fountains,  a  pleasure  to  the  eye, 
and  an  education  and  a  satisfaction  to  the  mind. 
Whereas,  the  cities  in  which  this  old  disgrace- 
ful fight  of  David's  day  is  being  fought  over 
again,  with  the  same  result,  the  people  fleeing 
and  leaving  the  Philistines  in  possession  —  who 
can  count  their  number  ? 

All  honor  to  the  brave  men  of  the  Crusades ! 
To  Peter  the  Preacher,  to  Godfrey  the  King,  to 
Tancred  the  Knight,  who  knew  no  fear  and  no 
reproach,  and  to  their  brothers  who  counted 
their  lives  as  nothing  that  they  might  free  the 
Holy  City  from  the  dominion  of  the  infidel! 
Where  is  the  holy  city  of  our  day  ?  It  is  New 
York;  it  is  Boston;  it  is  Pittsburg.  Every  city 
is  the  holy  city.  And  the  knights  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  like  the  knights  of  old,  may 
find  in  its  rescue  a  field  for  all  their  valor,  all 
their  chivalry,  and  all  their  strength. 

"  And  the  Philistines  were  gathered  together 
into  a  troop,  where  was  a  plot  of  ground  full 
of  lentils  ;  and  the  people  fled  from  the  Philis- 
tines."    The  people  fled  because  they  had  no 


NEW  QUESTS  FOR  NEW  KNIGHTS.        211 

discipline,  no  unity,  no  leader.  Even  the 
church  is  split  up  into  shameful  factions. 
Even  in  religion  Christian  people  cannot  find 
agreement.  They  who  ought  to  fight  Philis- 
tines fight  each  other.  The  Holy  City  lies 
under  the  oppression  of  the  Saracens,  while  the 
crusaders  quarrel  and  dispute  among  them- 
selves. Here  is  the  great,  united,  magnifi- 
cently ofiicered  army  of  the  devil,  and  here  are 
we  fighting  in  awkward  squads,  a  few  in  this 
company,  and  a  few  in  that,  and  wondering 
why  the  cause  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  makes 
so  little  progress ! 

One  of  the  good  results  that  followed  the 
formation  of  the  knightly  orders  of  the  Middle 
Ages  was  the  closer  unity  of  Christendom. 
Men  were  narrow-minded,  shut  in  by  the  brief 
limits  of  small  principalities,  having  few  inter- 
ests outside  the  walls  of  their  own  towns  or 
castles,  and  despising  or  hating  their  brother 
men,  of  whom  they  knew  but  little.  In  the 
language  of  that  time  the  same  word  signified 
"  stranger  "  and  "  enemy."  Two  knights  who 
met  upon  a  forest  road  fell  speedily  to  fight- 
ing. That  was  the  universal  custom  of  the 
day.  Everybody  with  whom  you  were  not  ac- 
quainted was  to  be  taken  for  a  foe. 


212       NEW  QUESTS   FOR   NEW  KNIGHTS. 

Then  came  the  great  enterprise  of  the  Cru- 
sades. Men  were  enlisted  from  all  the  states  of 
Europe.  The  knights  of  Italy,  of  Germany,  of 
France,  of  England,  looked  into  each  other's 
faces,  learned  each  other's  language,  fought 
side  by  side  against  the  common  enemy,  and 
compacted  friendships  deep  and  lasting.  The 
Knights  Templars,  the  Knights  Hospitallers, 
knew  no  difference  of  race  or  nation.  Every 
Christian  who  would  fight  the  Turk  was  wel- 
comed as  a  brother. 

The  knights  of  the  nineteenth  century  are 
the  men  who  have  that  fine  chivalric  spirit. 
The  day  will  come  when  a  new  knighthood 
will  bring  men,  regardless  of  all  foolish  and 
petty  differences,  into  a  great  fraternity  where- 
in the  supreme  test  of  membership  shall  be  a 
good  strong  hatred  of  the  devil,  and  where 
every  man  shall  be  a  brother,  heart  and  soul, 
to  every  other  man  who  is  willing  to  join  in 
the  great  fight.  That  will  be  the  knighthood 
of  the  men  and  women  who  believe  in  Jesus 
Christ.  That  will  be  the  great  united  Christian 
Church,  for  which  let  all  good  people  pray. 
When  that  day  comes  let  all  Philistines  flee  ! 

But  how  shall  that  day  come?  It  is  plain 
that  it  will  begin  to  come  when  you  and  I  are 


NEW   QUESTS   FOR   NEW   KNIGHTS.        213 

loyal  knights  of  Jesus  Christ.  And  it  will  keep 
on  getting  nearer  and  nearer  in  proportion  as 
more  and  more  of  the  men  and  women  of  our 
acquaintance  become  more  knightly ;  that  is, 
more  enthusiastic,  more  zealous  in  good  works, 
more  faithful  in  the  service  of  the  Lord  Christ 
and  of  our  brethren  who  need  our  help.  It  is 
idle  to  dream  of  regenerating  society  without 
regenerating  the  individual. 

That  old  fight  in  the  field  of  beans  was 
turned,  after  all,  into  a  victory.  The  people 
fled;  yes,  but  not  all.  There  stood  one  hero 
"  in  the  midst  of  the  plot,  and  defended  it,  and 
slew  the  Philistines ;  and  the  Lord  wrought  a 
great  victory."  The  right  arm  and  the  good 
sword  and  the  valor  of  a  single  hero  saved  the 
day. 

I  am  afraid  that  the  people  who  fled  were  not 
only  undisciplined  but  uninterested  soldiers. 
They  did  not  care  enough  for  the  possession 
of  the  field  of  lentils  to  run  the  risk  of  its 
defence.  They  were  like  a  great  many  other 
people  who  are  content  to  let  the  devil  have  his 
way.  It  would  indeed  be  a  great  thing,  they 
confess,  to  have  a  Christian  city.  But  the  devil 
must  first  be  dispossessed.  And  that  will  need 
as  sturdy  fighting  as  ever  men  in  armor  knew 


214       NEW  QUESTS  FOR  NEW  KNIGHTS. 

about  the  walls  of  old  Jerusalem.  And  the  un- 
knightly  folk  draw  back.  The  Philistines  show 
their  strength,  and  the  people  flee.  They  do 
not  really  care.  But  one  man  cared  and  dared. 
And  then  it  was  discovered  that  the  Philistines, 
at  whose  menace  all  knees  trembled,  were  but 
weak  and  despicable  enemies.  One  man  could 
whip  them  all. 

The  fact,  however,  which  I  desire  to  empha- 
size is  that  the  man  who  won  the  battle  stood 
alone,  and  won  it  single-handed. 

God  makes  great  use  of  minorities.  Every 
good  cause  begins  in  the  heart  of  one  good 
man.  Sometimes  he  goes  on  unhelped  and 
unbefriended.  Nevertheless,  though  alone,  on 
he  goes,  and  stands  up  face  to  face  with  the 
Philistines,  determined,  brave,  persistent,  sure 
of  the  right,  and  resolved  to  defend  the  right 
even  with  his  life.  The  people  flee ;  the  Phi- 
listines come  on  in  force :  let  them  come  on  ! 
Though  their  bodies  be  of  furnace  flame,  and 
their  swords  keen  as  the  forked  lightning,  yet 
will  I  stand  my  ground!  That  is  what  the 
good  knight  Tancred  said. 

Peter  the  Hermit  waits  by  the  gate  of  Je- 
rusalem, and  the  Holy  City  is  in  the  hands 
of  the  Mohammedans,  and  cruelty  and  sacri- 


KE:W   QtJES'TS   tOU   i^EW   KNIGHTS.        215 

lege  are  going  on  day  after  day  unhindered. 
And  Peter  is  but  a  weary  pilgrim,  with  noth- 
ing but  a  pilgrim's  staff  and  empty  pockets. 
Everybody  is  afraid.  Every  man  waits  for 
the  next  man  to  do  something.  The  people 
flee,  and  Peter  stands  alone.  You  know  the 
story.  That  solitary  pilgrim  with  the  cross 
upon  his  shoulder  aroused  all  Europe ;  and 
the  Crusades  began. 

History  is  full  of  amazing  victories  wherein 
one  man  has  faced  an  army.  The  progress  of 
the  world  is  a  record  of  the  prowess  of  minor- 
ities. Men  whose  memories  go  back  to  the 
days  before  the  Civil  War  do  not  need  ex- 
amples from  the  Middle  Ages  to  prove  the 
truth  of  this  fine  knightly  story.  The  peo- 
ple fled,  but  John  Brown  did  not  flee.  A 
whole  mad  phalanx  of  Philistines  could  not 
scare  John  Brown.  And  by  and  by  the  mi- 
nority of  one  grew  into  an  army,  and  the  army 
freed  the  slaves. 

Whoever  has  learned  as  he  ought  the  lessons 
of  the  past,  believes  with  all  his  heart  in  the 
final  triumph  of  a  righteous  and  resolute  mi- 
nority. The  true  knight  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury stands  with  that  minority. 

The  task  of  the   knight  of  the   nineteenth 


216        NEW  QUESTS   FOR   NEW  KNIGHTS. 

century  is,  as  of  old,  the  rescue  of  a  city. 
But  our  Jerusalem  is  the  city  where  we  live. 
To  make  this  city  clean  and  Christian,  the 
home  of  universal  opportunity,  the  abode  of 
brotherly  love,  where  the  privileged  share  with 
the  unprivileged,  and  the  adversity  of  one  is 
felt  to  be  the  adversity  of  all ;  where  justice 
dwells,  and  honesty  and  good  religion,  and 
the  laws  of  God  are  kept,  and  Christ  is  Mas- 
ter, —  that  is  the  purpose  of  true  knighthood 
and  true  manhood  in  this  town.  And  he  who 
aims  at  such  a  purpose  will  begin  that  refor- 
mation with  himself,  with  a  resolute  minority 
of  one. 


THE  FAILURE   OF  THE  PHARISEE. 


**  Two  men  went  up  into  the  temple  to  pray,  the  one  a 
Pharisee,  and  the  other  a  Publican."  —  St.  Luke  xviii.  10. 


And  the  two  men,  having  said  their  prayers, 
returned  to  their  homes,  one  with  the  blessing 
of  God,  and  the  other  without  it. 

Yet  the  Pharisee  was  quite  unconscious  of 
his  failure.  No  more  complacent  man  walked 
the  streets  of  Jerusalem.  No  man  went  up 
that  day  into  the  temple  of  God,  or  came  down 
again,  with  a  better  opinion  of  himself. 

That  is  an  appalling  condition  of  things, 
when  one  considers  what  it  means  ;  for  human 
nature  does  not  change  much  with  distance  of 
time  or  space,  does  not  alter  much  with  differ- 
ence of  speech  or  dress.  If  a  citizen  of  Jerusa- 
lem could  go  about  so  blind  to  his  fatal  failure, 
the  residents  of  other  towns,  closer  to  us,  may 
walk  along  familiar  streets,  and  in  and  out  of 
parish  churches,  with  just  as  black  a  shade  over 
their  eyes.  It  will  be  worth  while,  therefore, 
to  look  somewhat  closely  into  this  case,  in  order 
217 


218       THE  FAILURE   OF   THE  PHARISEE. 

to  discover,  if  we  may,  the  causes  of  this  Phari- 
see's serene  unconsciousness.  The  Pharisee, 
we  will  find,  was  blinded  to  his  failure  by  the 
strong  light  of  two  kinds  of  success. 

He  had  attained  this  desirable  success,  —  his 
neighbors  all  thought  well  of  him.  There 
is  a  temptation  which  accompanies  that  most 
delightful  and  satisfying  approbation,  the  temp- 
tation to  put  compliment  in  the  place  of  con- 
science. "  Woe  unto  you,  when  all  men  shall 
speak  well  of  you,"  —  because,  unless  you  are 
upon  your  guard,  you  will  take  that  flattering 
speech  as  the  very  voice  of  God.  You  will 
persuade  yourself  that  you  are  approved  of  God 
because  you  are  applauded  by  your  neighbors. 
You  will  believe  that  you  are  doing  your  duty 
because  most  people  think  you  are.  And  very 
likely  you  and  your  admirers  will  be  quite  mis- 
taken. For  success,  as  we  define  it,  is  not 
always  satisfactory  to  God.  His  judgment  is 
sometimes  startlingly  different  from  ours. 

The  Pharisee  had  also  attained  this  other  de- 
sirable success,  —  he  thought  well  of  himself. 
He  had  some  excellent  reasons  for  thinking 
that  he  was  an  uncommonly  good  man.  He 
took  himself,  accordingly,  at  his  own  valuation. 
But  nobody  can  be  trusted  to  do  that.     How- 


THE  FAILURE  OF  THE  PHARISEE.        219 

ever  truthful  we  may  be  in  general,  we  will  tell 
lies  to  ourselves  about  ourselves.  Nothing  is 
so  deceptive  as  self-deceit.  The  Pharisee  does 
not  appear  to  have  doubted  for  a  moment  that 
God's  estimate  of  him  would  agree  entirely 
with  his  own.  God,  he  thought,  was  a  magni- 
fied Pharisee.  Naturally  we  argue  in  that  way, 
making  God  the  superlative  of  man  the  posi- 
tive. The  bigot  believes  that  God  is  a  divine 
bigot ;  the  liberal  thinks  that  God  does  not  care 
•much  about  the  things  which  are  not  of  interest 
to  him.  But  the  only  safe  ideal  of  God  is  that 
which  is  based  upon  the  character  of  Jesus 
Christ.  God  is  like  Christ;  and  in  whatever 
respect  we  are  unlike  Christ,  God  is  unlike  us, 
and  values  things  at  a  valuation  different  from 
ours.  The  Pharisee  was  not  at  all  like  Jesus 
Christ ;  and  thus  he  was  quite  mistaken  about 
God.  He  took  the  approval  of  God  altogether 
for  granted ;  and,  while  he  least  imagined  it,  he 
offended  God. 

There  is  only  one  failure  which  is  greatly 
worth  regretting,  and  that  is  failure  with  God. 
Sometimes  failure  with  one's  self  is  really  no 
failure  at  all.  No  man  was  ever  more  emphatic 
in  his  belief  that  he  had  made  a  failure  of  his 
life  than  was  Elijah.     He  desired  to  die,  that 


^20       THli  FAILtJEE  OF  THE  PHARISEE. 

the  earth  might  be  no  longer  encumbered  with 
such  an  utterly  useless  and  defeated  creature. 
But  we  know  that  Elijah  was  quite  mis- 
taken. Sometimes  failure  with  others  is  no 
failure  at  all.  No  life  ever  ended  amidst  cir- 
cumstances more  plainly  indicative  of  blank 
defeat  than  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ.  Forsaken 
by  his  disciples,  deserted  by  his  friends,  hated 
by  all  the  orthodox  leaders  of  established  re- 
ligion, condemned  for  sedition  and  for  blas- 
phemy, for  violation  of  the  laws  of  God  and 
man,  and  hanging  alone  upon  the  ignominious 
cross,  what  wonder  if  the  watchers  there  in  the 
noonday  darkness  thought  in  their  hearts  that 
that  was  the  failure  of  failures  !  But  we  know 
that  it  was  the  victory  of  victories.  There  is 
only  one  fatal  failure,  and  that  is  failure  with 
God.     The  Pharisee  had  failed  with  God. 

Yet  the  Pharisee  had  great  advantages. 
Those  two  eminent  successes  of  his,  while 
they  did,  indeed,  offer  strong  temptations,  yet 
brought  with  them,  nevertheless,  much  strength 
and  help. 

That  good  opinion  of  the  Pharisee's  neigh- 
bors meant  appreciation.  Whenever  this  man 
did  a  good  thing,  or  said  a  good  word,  some- 
body was  sure  to  thank  him  for  it.     Apprecia- 


THE   FAlLtlllE  OF  THE  PHARISEE.        221 

tion  brings  encouragement  and  inspiration  with 
it  always.  It  does,  indeed,  minister  to  self- 
consciousness  ;  and  thus  we  are  helped  to 
understand  that  wise  word  of  Goethe,  that 
whenever  a  man  does  an  excellent  deed  we  all 
conspire  to  prevent  him  from  doing  it  again. 
But  if  we  are  able  to  overcome  this,  appreci- 
ation helps  us  to  go  on  and  do  better  another 
time.  Then,  too,  this  universal  appreciation  set 
the  Pharisee  an  ideal  of  character.  He  knew 
what  his  neighbors  expected  of  him,  and  that 
they  expected  a  great  deal :  that  helped  him 
wonderfully  to  live  up  to  that  ideal. 

As  for  the  Publican,  there  was  no  deed  that 
he  could  do  good  enough  to  get  any  apprecia- 
tion from  anybody.  There  was  no  motive  of  his 
so  excellent,  so  sincere  and  unselfish,  but  some 
one  would  naturally  misinterpret  it.  As  for  a 
character  to  maintain,  nobody  expected  him  to 
have  any  character  at  all  —  except  a  bad  one. 
The  Publican  was  like  the  released  convict  who 
complains  that  he  has  no  chance  to  make  an 
honest  living.  His  portrait  is  in  the  rogues' 
gallery.  Every  one  who  knows  him  waits  to 
hear  that  he  has  committed  another  offence  and 
earned  another  term  in  prison.  It  is  plain 
enough   what    influence    that   malign   expecta- 


222       THE  FAILURE  OE  tflE  I»HARISEE. 

tion  would  have  upon  a  man's  career.  You 
can  see  how  he  would  be  most  heavily  handi- 
capped. It  would  be  easier  for  him  to  be  a 
rascal  than  a  righteous  man.  Even  his  right- 
eousness would  be  called  hypocrisy.  Presently, 
unless  there  were  something  uncommonly  good 
in  him,  he  would  live  up  to  the  character  which 
people  gave  him. 

There  was  also  the  Pharisee's  good  opinion 
of  himself.  No  doubt  his  estimate  was  honest 
and  well-founded.  The  man  had  a  high  degree 
of  self-respect  to  maintain.  And  he  had  the 
strength  which  comes  from  a  long  course  of  up- 
right living.  His  good  impulses  had  been  de- 
veloped into  natural  habits.  In  a  dozen  ways 
he  had  grown  in  excellence  as  the  child  grows 
into  the  trick  of  walking  or  of  playing  upon  the 
piano,  so  that  he  did  good  things  and  conducted 
himself  commendably  without  needing  to  think 
about  it.  He  was  so  respectable  and  virtuous 
that  it  was  comparatively  easy  for  him  to  keep 
on  being  respectable  and  virtuous  still.  It  was 
natural  for  this  man  to  be  good. 

And  the  man  was  good.  He  was  no  extor- 
tioner; he  was  not  unjust;  he  was  a  person  of 
sterling  and  un veneered  morality.  Weigh  these 
descriptive  phrases,  and  you  will  find  that  they 


THE   FAILURE    OF   THE   PHARISEE.        223 

mean  much.  Here  was  an  upright  business  man, 
telling  no  lies  in  his  trade,  paying  his  debts, 
keeping  his  hands  out  of  his  neighbors'  pockets, 
dealing  fairly  with  the  men  in  his  employ,  and, 
in  general,  doing  business  on  Jewish  principles, 
—  which  is  the  next  best  thing  to  doing  busi- 
ness on  Christian  principles  —  neither  unjust 
nor  extortionate.  And  he  was  as  good  a  man 
at  home  as  he  was  in  his  shop,  a  faithful  hus- 
band, a  model  of  domestic  virtue. 

The  Pharisee's  good  character  went  even 
farther, — he  was  a  religious  man.  This  was 
by  no  means  his  first  visit  to  the  temple  at 
the  hour  of  prayer.  He  was  a  regular  and 
punctual  and  devout  church-goer.  We  know 
from  his  membership  in  the  party  of  the  Phar- 
isees that  he  was  not  only  religious,  but  prom- 
inent among  the  religious.  People  pointed  to 
him,  as  he  walked  that  morning  toward  the 
temple,  as  one  of  the  pillars  of  the  Jerusalem 
church.  Even  among  the  saints  he  was  con- 
spicuous for  his  strict  living,  for  his  literal 
obedience  to  all  the  rubrics  of  his  church:  he 
fasted  twice  every  week.  Besides  that,  he  gave 
tithes  of  all  that  he  possessed.  Regularly  and 
religiously  did  he  set  apart  one-tenth  of  his 
income  that  he  might  spend  it  upon  works 
of  charity. 


224        THE  FAILURE   OF   THE   PHARISEE. 

There  are  two  kinds  of  people  of  whom  Jesus 
Christ  especially  disapproved,  —  those  who  trust 
in  themselves  that  they  are  righteous,  and  those 
who  despise  others.  The  two  disastrous  charac- 
teristics, as  in  this  instance,  often  go  together, 
—  content  and  contempt.  This  excellent  gen- 
tleman who  thus  fell  into  grievous  failure,  lost 
the  favor  of  God  because  of  his  content  with 
himself  and  his  contempt  for  others. 

For  content  means  neglect  of  opportunity. 
No  man  was  ever  satisfied  with  himself  who 
measured  his  life  by  the  rule  of  opportunity. 
Who  has  done  all  the  good  deeds  he  might  have 
done  ?  Whoever  begins  to  recite  a  roll  of  his 
excellent  actions,  or  to  congratulate  himself 
upon  his  abstinence  from  evil,  he  stands  beside 
this  Pharisee,  and  we  perceive  that  he  is  the  same 
kind  of  man.  The  little  child,  who  does  not 
know  much  yet,  delights  to  rehearse  his  bits  of 
knowledge;  the  philosopher,  who  after  years 
of  study  has  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  vastness 
of  the  realm  of  truth,  knows  himself  to  be 
but  a  gatherer  of  shining  pebbles  upon  the 
beach  of  the  illimitable  ocean.  Our  estimate 
of  our  spiritual  worth  is  apt  to  be  curiously 
in  an  inverse  ratio  to  our  religious  attain- 
ments;   it    is    the   indifferent   Christian    who 


THE   FAILURE   OF   THE   PHARISEE.        225 

thinks  himself  a  saint ;  the  saint  is  conscious 
of  his  sins. 

And  content  is  a  sign  of  spiritual  stagnation. 
Thorwaldsen  carves  a  statue  in  which  he  finds 
no  fault,  and  he  drops  his  chisel  in  despair,  be- 
cause he  is  satisfied.  He  has  gone  now  as  far  in 
his  art  as  he  is  likely  to  go.  For  content  dis- 
courages further  endeavor ;  and  when  endeavor 
stops,  growth  stops,  and  the  end  of  growth  is  the 
end  of  life.  Even  to  us,  with  our  imperfect  and 
mistaken  judgment,  the  Publican  was  the  more 
hopeful  man  of  the  two.  There  was  some 
chance  of  improvement  in  him.  He  had  at 
least  made  that  beginning  which  is  just  as 
much  needed  for  progress  in  spiritual  as  in 
scientific  knowledge,  —  the  confession  of  ignor- 
ance and  of  need  of  help.  None  are  so  remote 
from  amendment  as  they  who,  being  blind,  de- 
clare that  they  see.  The  Pharisee  knew  it  all ; 
nobody  could  teach  him.  That  is  a  type  of  per- 
son whom  we  all  recognize  and  detest.  To  be 
receptive,  to  be  humble,  to  be  desirous  of  know- 
ing and  of  growing,  is  essential  if  one  would 
increase  in  the  favor  of  God. 

To  his  content  with  himself  the  Pharisee 
added  contempt  for  his  neighbor.  He  thanked 
God  that  it  had  mercifully  pleased  him  to  di- 


226        THE   FAILURE  OF   THE   PHARISEE. 

vide  men  into  two  classes,  and  to  put  him  into 
class  one,  and  to  relegate  "  other  men,"  the 
whole  common  crowd  of  them,  to  class  two. 
"  God,  I  thank  thee  that  I  am  not  as  other  men 
are."  That  is  as  unchristian  as  anything  can 
be.  It  flatly  contradicts  the  whole  intention  of 
the  Christian  gospel.  Jesus  Christ  came  to 
drive  contempt  out  of  the  world,  and  to  bring 
brotherly  love  in.  The  one  virtue  upon  which 
he  insisted  more  than  any  other  as  essential  to 
the  approval  of  God  is  the  virtue  of  brotherli- 
ness.  The  one  deadly  heresy  is  the  heresy  of 
Cain.  No  man  who  asks,  "  Am  I  my  brother's 
keeper  ?  "  saying  "  no  "  in  his  heart,  is  within 
sight  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  Men  are  not  ad- 
mitted into  college  for  their  good  looks,  but  for 
their  intellectual  attainments;  and  no  human 
being  will  enter  heaven  upon  the  credentials 
of  his  respectable  life  :  brotherly  people  are 
wanted  there,  and  none  else. 

Take,  now,  a  man  who  is  an  honest  merchant 
and  an  upright  citizen,  an  example  of  domestic 
virtue  and  a  leader  in  the  church,  and  who  out 
of  every  hundred  dollars  of  his  income  gives 
ten  dollars  to  the  poor,  and  you  have  an  un- 
commonly good  man.  And  yet  Christ  said, 
"Except  your  righteousness  shall  exceed  the 


THE  FAILURE  OF  THE  PHARISEE.        227 

righteousness  of  the  scribes  and  Pharisees,  ye 
shall  in  no  case  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven."  So  that  one  may  have  all  the  graces 
and  the  sanctities  which  marked  this  eminent 
citizen  of  Jerusalem,  and  yet  be  making  spirit- 
ual shipwreck  of  his  life.  No  man  will  be 
saved  by  respectability.  That  is  worth  thinking 
about. 

As  for  the  Publican,  doubtless  he  described 
himself  with  accuracy  when  he  prayed  that  God 
would  be  merciful  to  him,  a  sinner.  Any  one 
seeing  the  two  men  that  day,  climbing  the  tem- 
ple steps  together,  would  have  remarked  upon 
the  contrast.  And  had  you  asked  the  question, 
Which  of  these  two  is  nearer  to  the  kingdom  of 
heaven?  you  would  have  been  answered,  with 
some  natural  surprise  at  your  folly  in  asking, 
The  Pharisee.     But  Christ  said.  The  Publican ! 

God's  judgment  is  evidently  diverse  from 
ours.  God's  thoughts,  as  the  wise  psalmist 
phrased  it,  are  as  remote  from  ours  as  the  east  is 
from  the  west.  The  sermon  sounds  in  the  ears 
of  the  hearers,  wise  and  unwise,  rich  and  poor, 
saints  and  sinners.  But  in  the  sight  of  God 
some  of  the  rich  are  poor,  and  some  of  the  poor 
are  rich,  and  some  of  the  wise  are  foolish.  Some 
who  are   accounted  first  by  us  and  by  them- 


228        THE   FAILURE   OF   THE   PHARISEE. 

selves,  God  sets  among  the  last ;  and  we  would 
no  doubt  be  unanitnously  amazed  if  the  names 
of  the  first  should  be  read  out  here  by  an  angel 
of  God  from  the  pages  of  the  books  of  God. 
For  no  amount  of  advantage  can  insure  one 
against  spiritual  failure ;  and  no  disadvantage, 
no  complication  of  adverse  and  hindering  cir- 
cumstances, can  keep  anybody  from  making 
a  man  of  himself  and  winning  the  benediction 
of  the  absolutely  impartial  Judge. 

But  what  was  the  matter  with  the  Pharisee  ? 
Wherein  did  he  fail  ? 

He  failed,  our  Lord  tells  us,  for  a  reason,  or 
a  combination  of  reasons,  which  he  puts  into  a 
single  sentence,  —  because  he  "  trusted  in  him- 
self that  he  was  righteous,  and  despised  others." 

Contempt  is  as  unreasonable  as  it  is  unchris- 
tian. 

Take  intellectual  contempt,  for  example,  the 
spirit  which  says,  "  I  am  wiser  than  thou."  The 
most  learned  of  scholars  has  no  monopoly  of 
knowledge ;  many  humble  folk  know  important 
things  of  which  he  is  quite  ignorant.  Some- 
body wrote  a  great  book  once  in  Latin,  and 
entitled  it  "  De  Omnibus  Rebus,"  —  "  Concern- 
ing All  Things ; "  and  then  presently  added  a 
supplement,  which  he  entitled  "  Et  Ceteris  Re- 


THE  FAILURE   OF   THE   PHARISEE.        229 

bus,"  — "And  a  Few  Other  Things."  But 
even  thus  he  did  not  record  all  that  is  knowable. 
Everybody  we  meet  knows  more  than  we  do 
about  something.  And,  after  all,  the  really 
important  thing  is  to  he  rather  than  to  know. 
Character  is  better  than  culture.  And  culture 
sometimes  endangers  character  by  imparting 
this  foolish  pharisaical  spirit  of  mistaken  superi- 
ority. 

Take,  also,  the  case  of  social  contempt;  the 
feeling,  "  I  am  politer  than  thou."  This  is  the 
most  unchristian  element  in  society.  It  puts 
barriers  between  "  classes,"  erects  walls  of  caste. 
Christian  courtesy  is  never  guilty  of  contempt. 
The  essence  of  good  manners  is  consideration 
for  the  feelings  of  others.  Whoever  fails  in 
thoughtfulness  for  the  humblest  household  ser- 
vant betrays  vulgarity,  and  is  a  social  Pharisee. 

Then  there  is  religious  contempt,  which  says, 
"I  am  better  than  thou."  Ah,  but  are  you? 
That  is  what  this  mistaken  Pharisee  mistakenly 
imagined. 

And  thus  we  learn  our  lesson  in  humility. 
God  rejected  the  proud  and  gave  his  benediction 
to  the  humble. 


DISPOSITION  AND  DUTY. 


"  A  man  had  two  sons ;  and  he  came  to  the  first,  and  said, 
Son,  go  work  to-day  in  the  vineyard.  And  he  answered  and 
said,  I  will  not ;  but  afterward  he  repented  himself,  and  went. 
And  he  came  to  the  second,  and  said  likewise.  And  he 
answered  and  said,  I  go,  sir;  and  went  not."  — St.  Matt. 
xxi.  26.  

Nothing  can  take  the  place  of  obedience.  It 
is  very  well  to  be  respectful  and  good-mannered, 
like  this  second  son,  and  to  be  prompt  at  prom- 
ising ;  but  if  that  is  all,  then  it  is  worse  than 
nothing.  The  second  son,  with  his  polite,  def- 
erential "I  go,  sir,"  not  only  disobeyed  his 
father,  but  also  lied  to  him. 

The  second  son  is  the  man  who  makes  hearty 
and  reverent  response  to  the  reading  of  the 
commandments  in  church  on  Sunday,  and  then 
breaks  five  or  six  of  them  on  Monday.  "  Thou 
shalt  not  steal,"  says  the  minister.  "  Lord  have 
mercy  upon  us,  and  incline  our  hearts  to  keep 
this  law,"  says  the  man ;  and  then  for  six  days 
he  devotes  himself,  body,  mind,  and  spirit,  to 
every  variety  of  respectable  stealing  known  to 
the  world  of  trade. 


DISPOSITION  AND  DUTY.  231 

Or  the  second  son  is  a  daughter ;  the  second 
son  is  a  woman.  "  Thou  shalt  do  no  murder," 
says  the  minister.  "  Lord,  have  mercy  upon  us, 
and  incline  our  hearts  to  keep  this  law,"  says 
the  woman ;  and  all  the  rest  of  the  week,  with 
words  softer  than  butter,  which  yet  are  very 
swords,  she  stirs  up  strife,  causes  pain,  strikes 
at  people's  hearts. 

Jesus  had  in  mind  the  chief  priests  and  elders 
of  the  people.  They  seemed  to  be  religious. 
Who  could  be  more  attentive  than  they  were 
to  all  the  externals  of  religion  ?  Who  could  go 
to  church  oftener  than  they  did?  Who  could 
be  more  orthodox  in  creed,  more  precise  in  rit- 
ual, more  mindful  of  conventionalities  ?  Every- 
body could  hear  them  saying,  "I  go,  sir."  And 
yet  Jesus  said  to  them  that  even  publicans  and 
harlots  would  precede  them  into  the  kingdom 
of  heaven.  These  eminently  respectable  citi- 
zens and  churchmen  Jesus  accounted  as  worse 
than  the  avaricious  tax-collectors  with  whom 
no  decent  folk  would  associate ;  while  there 
were  women  of  the  street  in  that  town  whom 
he  declared  to  stand  higher  in  the  esteem  of 
God  than  some  of  the  ladies  who  adorned  the 
society  of  Jerusalem. 

That  is  as  true  to-day  as  it  was  then.     God 


232  DISPOSITION   AND  DUTY. 

is  not  deceived  by  good  manners.  He  is  not 
deluded  by  smooth  phrases.  His  knowledge  of 
us  is  not  confined  to  the  information  that  we 
give  him  in  our  prayers.  He  does  not  lose 
sight  of  us  when  we  go  out  of  the  church  door. 
We  cannot  cheat  God  by  a  long  face,  or  by  a 
pious  accent,  or  by  a  devout  attitude.  We  may 
say,  "  I  go,  sir,"  in  the  most  humble  and  obedi- 
ent and  filial  tone  of  voice  imaginable.  God 
waits  to  see  if  we  really  go.  And  if  we  go 
not,  all  our  pretences  count  for  nothing. 

I  ask  your  especial  attention,  however,  to  the 
case  of  the  first  son.  Evidently  his  whole  in- 
clination was  against  going ;  he  had  no  mind  to 
work  that  day  in  the  vineyard.  Afterward  he 
repented  himself.  But  that  does  not  mean  that 
he  was  seized  with  a  great  longing  for  labor,  and 
that  when  he  went  he  carried  a  ready  mind  and 
a  cheerful  spirit  with  him.  Probably  even  as 
he  obeyed  he  moved  reluctantly.  He  had  other 
plans  for  that  morning.  His  conscience  may 
have  troubled  him  as  he  reflected  upon  his  dis- 
respectful speech,  and  thus  he  finally  obeyed. 
But  that  was  hardly  ideal  obedience. 

Under  such  conditions  was  this  man's  obedi- 
ence of  any  worth  ?  Having  the  mind  that  he 
had,  not  really  interested  in  his  father's  work, 


DlSPOSIT^IOlSf  AND  DUTY.  233 

detesting  vineyards,  might  he  not  have  said  to 
himself,  "  If  I  go,  I  will  be  playing  the  hypo- 
crite. I  will  appear  to  be  a  good  son  when  I 
am  not.  It  will  seem  to  others  that  I  am  work- 
ing willingly,  while  in  truth  nothing  impels  me 
to  this  task  except  the  pricks  of  my  inconven- 
ient conscience."  And,  saying  this,  might  he 
not  properly  have  stayed  at  home  ? 

We  are  most  of  us  aware  in  our  own  experi- 
ence of  this  alternative  between  disposition  and 
duty.  We  lack  the  proper  disposition ;  ought 
we,  then,  to  undertake  the  duty?  This  is  such 
a  frequent  question  that  we  will  do  well  to 
study  it,  and  see  if  we  can  get  some  sort  of 
serviceable  answer. 

Let  me  make  the  question  perfectly  plain  by 
an  illustration.  It  is  the  hour  at  which  we  are 
accustomed  to  say  our  prayers ;  but  we  are  not 
in  the  spirit  of  prayer.  We  are  tired,  or  it  is 
late,  and  we  are  half-asleep,  or  something  has 
gone  wrong;  we  are  perturbed  in  spirit,  in  an 
unchristian  temper,  possessed  of  the  devil;  or 
doubts  beset  us,  and  we  ask  ourselves  whether 
it  is  of  any  use  to  pray,  whether  God  hears 
prayer  or  answers  prayer.  Somehow,  we  are 
not  at  all  in  a  prayerful  mood.  Shall  we,  then, 
as  we  have  been  accustomed  at  this  hour,  kneel 


234  DISPOSITION   AND  DUTY. 

down  and  recite  the  phrases  of  petition?  Is 
not  such  a  proceeding  hypocritical  or  foolish, 
or  even  irreverent?  Are  we  not  breaking  one 
of  the  commandments  and  taking  the  name  of 
God  in  vain?  Must  not  such  prayers  as  we 
would  pray  be  like  the  idle  revolutions  of  the 
cylinders  of  the  praying-machines  of  the  moun- 
tains of  Thibet?  Will  God,  who  cares  only 
for  the  disposition  of  the  heart,  and  hears  only 
the  voice  of  the  soul,  and  who  cannot  be  de- 
ceived, as  we  have  just  been  saying,  by  mere 
good  manners,  or  by  devout  and  reverential 
phrases  —  will  he  look  with  any  sort  of  appro- 
bation upon  such  an  empty  prayer  as  this  ? 

Here,  now,  is  the  question  plain  enough  be- 
tween disposition  and  duty.  If  we  lack  the 
right  disposition,  shall  we  undertake  the  duty  ? 
The  son  who  in  his  heart  is  saying,  "  I  will 
not,"  can  he  please  the  father  if  he  goes? 

There  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  emphasis 
that  Jesus  put  upon  the  importance  of  a  right 
disposition.  The  Sermon  on  the  Mount  begins 
with  blessings  not  upon  achievement  but  upon 
disposition.  He  who  would  be  loved  of  God 
must  be  humble,  must  be  meek,  must  be  merci- 
ful. And  presently  there  seems  to  be  pre- 
sented, in  the  light  of  a  sharp  contrast,  the  very 


DISPOSITIOK  AND   DUTY.  ^85 

case,  at  least  in  some  of  its  points,  which  we 
are  now  considering.  Here  are  two  men  who 
say  their  prayers  ;  one  in  a  right  spirit,  the 
other  in  a  wrong  spirit.  One  does  little  more 
than  to  pronounce  the  words  of  his  prayer, 
making  a  street-corner  his  oratory,  that  he  may 
be  remarked  of  men.  The  other  really  prays. 
The  result  is  that  the  man  who  says  his  prayers 
only  for  the  sake  of  the  approbation  of  men, 
gets  that  approbation,  but  no  more.  Only  the 
man  who  prays  to  God  that  he  may  be  heard  of 
God  is  blessed  by  God.  The  case  is  the  same 
with  the  giving  of  alms.  It  would  seem  from 
this  that  a  right  disposition  is  absolutely  essen- 
tial to  give  any  value  in  God's  estimation  to  the 
performance  of  duty. 

This  emphasis  upon  the  importance  of  dis- 
position is  even  plainer  in  the  teachings  of  St. 
Paul.  He  informs  us  that  without  faith  it  is 
impossible  to  please  God,  and  that  without 
charity  all  our  doings  are  nothing  worth.  And 
faith  and  charity  are  evidently  details  of  a  right 
disposition.  If  we  lack  faith  or  charity,  why, 
then,  do  anything  ?  If  the  essential  disposition 
be  wanting,  why,  then,  trouble  ourselves  about 
duty  ?  If  we  are  not  in  the  spirit  of  prayer,  is 
it  not  lost  time  to  pray?  May  not  even  our 
prayer  be  turned  into  sin  ? 


236  BISPOSITIOK  AND  DUTY. 

Something  like  this  does,  indeed,  appear  to 
be  read  in  some  systems  of  theology.  Thus  it 
is  written  in  one  of  the  Thirty-nine  Articles : 
"Works  done  before  the  grace  of  Christ,  and 
the  inspiration  of  his  Spirit,  are  not  pleasant  to 
God,  forasmuch  as  they  spring  not  of  faith  in 
Jesus  Christ  .  .  .  and  we  doubt  not  but  they 
have  the  nature  of  sin."  According  to  such 
doctrine,  duty  without  a  right  disposition  is 
transformed  into  iniquity  ! 

But  what  do  we  mean  by  the  "grace  of 
Christ "  ?  We  mean  the  shining  in  the  soul  of 
man  of  that  true  light  that  knows  no  boundaries 
of  sect  or  creed,  but  lighteneth  every  man  that 
cometh  into  the  world.  Wherever  there  is  a 
worthy  deed,  there  is  evidence  of  faith  in  Jesus 
Christ.  Every  good  word  or  act,  in  any  land 
or  any  time,  in  any  religion,  or  outside  of  all 
religion,  comes  into  being  by  the  inspiration  of 
his  Spirit. 

What  do  we  mean  by  a  right  disposition  ? 
The  word  includes  a  wide  difference  of  degrees. 
Most  of  our  difficulty  in  adjusting  the  relation 
between  disposition  and  duty  comes  from  setting 
the  measure  of  disposition  quite  too  high.  By 
faith  we  may  mean  the  faith  of  St.  Paul ;  by 
love  we  may  mean  the  love  of  St.  John.     By 


DISPOSITION  AND  DUTY.  237 

the  desire  to  serve  God  we  may  mean  the 
hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness  that  is 
praised  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  If  we 
were  to  make  the  doing  of  duty  wait  for  these 
high  attainments,  we  would  wait  a  long  time. 
A  long  time?  we  would  wait  forever!  For 
faith  and  love  grow  only  by  doing  more  and 
more,  and  better  and  better,  the  deeds  of  duty : 
at  fii'st  with  but  the  beginnings  of  a  good  in- 
tention, with  much  admixture  of  unworthy 
motive ;  but  presently  with  increase  of  zeal, 
with  higher  purpose ;  then  with  all  the  love  of 
all  our  heart.  That  is  how  the  saints  them- 
selves grew  into  sanctity. 

Thus  duty  develops  disposition.  Good  deeds, 
if  they  are  kept  in  sufficient  majority  in  men's 
lives,  will  make  good  hearts.  Let  a  man  accus- 
tom his  hands  to  extend  themselves  helpfully  in 
the  direction  of  need,  and  his  tongue  to  shape 
sentences  of  charitable  and  encouraging  speech, 
and  his  feet  to  walk  in  the  paths  of  righteous- 
ness and  peace,  let  him  turn  away  his  eyes  from 
beholding  vanity  and  his  ears  from  foolishness 
and  malice,  and  presently  the  whole  man  will 
be  found  heart  and  soul  upon  the  right  side. 
But  he  who  waits  to  feel  right  before  he  acts 
right,  he  who  expects  the  fulness  of  faith  first, 


238  DISPOSITION    AND   DUTY. 

and  then  the  deeds  of  faith  afterwards,  is  pre- 
paring disappointment  for  himself. 

This  is  one  of  the  manifold  applications  of 
that  great  word  of  St.  Paul :  First  the  natural, 
and  afterward  that  which  is  spiritual.  So  we 
grow  from  the  obedience  of  childhood  into  the 
willing  service  of  maturity  ;  from  the  bondage 
of  the  law  to  the  freedom  of  the  gospel.  So 
the  hand  helps  the  heart,  and  the  doing  of  duty 
changes  disposition. 

The  probability  is  that  the  son  who  said  in 
such  disrespectful  fashion,  "  I  will  not,"  and 
then  presently,  but  not  yet  with  much  love  in 
his  heart,  repented  and  went,  worked  for  the 
first  hour  in  some  sullenness  of  temper.  But 
the  second  hour  the  task  grew  pleasanter.  And 
before  the  day  was  over  it  had  happened  to  him, 
as  to  the  obedient  lepers  who  were  cleansed  as 
they  went,  he  came  into  a  right  disposition  as 
he  went.  But  if  he  had  held  back  from  his 
duty  at  the  start  for  lack  of  an  ideal  disposition, 
he  would  never  have  attained  it,  and  even  his 
duty  would  have  gone  undone. 

We  are  not  doing  well  when  we  measure  the 
worth  of  our  deed  by  its  reward,  and  refrain 
from  doing  it  when  we  are  afraid  that  some  de- 
fect in  our  disposition  may  prevent  us  from  re- 


DISPOSITION   AND  DUTY.  239 

ceiving  the  blessing  of  God.  The  purpose  of 
working  in  a  vineyard  is  not  to  get  praise  for 
working,  but  to  get  the  work  accomplished. 
That  is  what  the  father  wants.  If  it  is  done 
enthusiastically,  so  much  the  better ;  but,  in  any 
way,  let  it  be  done.  God  calls  us  to  duty,  and 
the  only  right  answer  is  obedience.  If  it  can 
be  glad  and  willing  and  loving  obedience,  happy 
are  we ;  but  in  any  case,  whether  we  ourselves 
get  enjoyment  and  blessing  from  the  task  or 
not,  the  call  must  be  obeyed.  The  will  of  God 
must  be  done  for  the  sake  of  God,  not  for  the 
sake  of  ourselves.  Whether  our  hearts  be  right 
or  not,  at  least  let  us  keep  our  hands  right. 

What  is  the  minimum  of  right  disposition  ? 
I  think  that  we  may  take  the  smallest  desire  to 
do  our  duty  as  being  enough  of  a  right  disposi- 
tion to  begin  with.  Undertake  the  duty,  and 
step  by  step  God  will  provide  the  disposition. 

A  plain  example  of  the  right  relation  between 
disposition  and  duty  is  this :  The  bell  rings,  and 
a  visitor  is  announced,  and  we  are  tired  or 
busy,  or  otherwise  provoked,  at  being  called 
upon.  What  shall  we  do?  Shall  we  betray 
our  feelings  ?  Shall  we  go  in  to  meet  the  visi- 
tor with  a  cross  face  and  an  unpleasant  manner, 
without  a  welcome  ?     That  would  be  the  truest 


240  DISPOSITION   AND  DUTY. 

sign  of  our  real  disposition.  But  we  do  not  do 
that.  We  make  the  best  of  the  situation.  We 
are  well  aware  of  the  ideal  way  in  which  to 
receive  a  guest.  We  know  that  we  ought  to  be 
courteous  and  hospitable,  and  pleasant  in  our 
look  and  speech.  And  we  simply  do  the  best 
we  can.  The  disposition  is  not  at  all  ideal.  If 
our  guest  could  read  our  mind  the  call  would 
probably  be  made  a  very  brief  one.  Neverthe- 
less, we  do  our  duty.  Who  does  not  know  by 
experience  how  often  the  heart  follows  the  lips, 
how  in  proportion  as  we  speak  pleasantly  we 
think  pleasantly ;  so  that  in  most  cases,  after  a 
little,  duty  and  disposition  meet.  We  said  "I 
will  not,"  but  we  repented  ourselves  and  went, 
and  it  came  out  better  than  we  thought. 

That  is  what  we  ought  to  do  at  the  call  of 
every  duty.  We  can  at  least  obey.  Ideal  obe- 
dience includes  the  whole  will  and  the  whole 
heart.  We  cannot  begin  with  that.  But  we 
can  begin  with  what  we  have.  God  calls.  It 
is  better  to  obey  blunderingly  than  not  to  obey 
at  all. 

The  hour  comes,  then,  at  which  we  are  accus- 
tomed to  say  our  prayers,  and  we  are  not  in  the 
spirit  of  prayer.  Or  it  is  the  time  at  which  we 
are  accustomed  to  look  for  guidance  in  the  word 


DISPOSITION   AND  DUTY.  241 

of  God,  and  we  are  not  in  a  mood  for  Bible- 
reading.  Or  the  bells  are  ringing  for  service, 
and  we  are  not  in  a  church-going  temper.  Or 
the  table  of  the  Lord  is  spread,  and  we  are  bid- 
den, and  we  are  of  a  mind  to  turn  away.  Or 
the  voice  of  God  is  heard  summoning  us  to 
work  in  the  vineyard,  to  do  this  or  that  good 
deed  for  him,  and  we  have  no  good  heart  for  the 
good  deed.  We  lack  the  disposition ;  shall  we 
then  forego  the  duty  ? 

The  answer  that  is  given  by  the  voice  of  spir- 
itual experience  is  unhesitating  and  direct. 
Never  mind  the  disposition.  There  is  no  dispo- 
sition that  is  spiritually  fatal  except  that  of 
complete  self-satisfaction.  Do  the  best  you 
can.  If  you  cannot  do  the  whole  of  your  duty, 
do  a  part.  If  you  cannot  do  it  as  you  would 
like,  do  it  as  you  can.  Never  forget  that  "  the 
best  is  often  the  enemy  of  the  good ;  "  that  the 
devil  makes  use  of  our  ideals  to  discourage  us. 
If  you  can  do  no  more  than  to  set  yourself  reso- 
lutely at  God's  service,  and  to  say  words  and 
phrases,  say  the  words  and  phrases.  Presently 
you  will  find  them  changing  into  real  petitions. 
If  we  do  our  duty,  God  will  make  the  good 
deed  grow  intc  the  right  disposition. 


FOREIGN   MISSIONS. 


"  The  field  is  the  world."  —  St.  Matt.  xiii. 


Whoever  would  learn  the  boundaries  within 
which  missionary  work  ought  to  be  done  may 
well  begin  his  studies  in  religious  geography 
with  this  descriptive  sentence.  Hang  up  a  map 
of  both  the  hemispheres,  with  all  the  continents 
and  all  the  islands  and  all  the  oceans  upon  it, 
with  polar  ice  at  the  top  and  polar  ice  at  the 
bottom,  and  the  equator  across  the  middle  of  it ; 
that  is  the  map  of  missions. 

Jesus  stands  in  the  midst  of  that  little  con- 
tracted, out-of-the-way,  provincial  Palestine, 
with  an  obscure  company  of  fishermen  and 
peasants  about  him,  and  looks  out  into  the 
immeasurable  reaches  of  time  and  space,  and 
says,  "The  field  is  the  world." 

Remember  that  the  locality  was  Judea,  and 
that  the  listeners  were  Hebrews.  The  place 
and  the  people  stood  for  sectarianism  and  nar- 
rowness. Remember  that  the  time  was  cen- 
turies ago,  in  a  day  when  the  idea  of  a  universal 
religion  had  never  even  been  dreamed  of.  The 
242 


FOBEIGN  MISSIONS.  243 

profoundest  philosopher,  the  most  radical  re- 
former, the  most  far-seeing  and  prophetic  states- 
man, had  not  conceived  of  the  desirability,  or 
the  possibility,  or  even  the  merest  visionary 
outline,  of  a  religion  for  the  race.  A  hundred 
and  fifty  years  later  the  sceptic  Celsus  ridiculed 
the  notion  of  a  universal  religion  as  a  colossal 
folly. 

We  are  so  wonted  to  the  wide  idea,  it  so 
pervades  the  Christian  air  we  breathe,  that  it  is 
not  easy  for  us  to  understand  how  the  words 
sounded  to  the  little  congregation  that  heard 
them  first.  "  The  field  is  the  world."  "  Go  ye 
into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the  gospel  to 
every  creature."  "Go  make  disciples  of  all 
nations,  baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the 
Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost ; 
teaching  them  to  observe  all  things  whatsoever 
I  have  commanded  you ;  and  lo,  I  am  with  you 
alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world."  We 
have  hardly  learned  the  meaning  of  that  message 
yet.  We  are  forever  limiting  the  field,  and 
asking.  Who  is  my  neighbor  ?  and  trying  to  put 
narrow  duties  in  the  place  of  broad  ones,  and 
questioning  the  value  and  the  use  of  foreign 
missions.  But  in  the  days  in  which  he  lived, 
sectarianism  was  accounted  essential  to  sanctity. 


244  FOREIGN   MISSIONS. 

No  man  was  considered  orthodox  unless  he  was 
narrow-minded.  Jesus  of  Nazareth  stood  by 
himself,  the  only  man  of  his  time  who  looked 
over  the  tops  of  the  dividing  fences  into  all  the 
world.  It  is  an  evidence  of  the  uniqueness 
and  singularity  of  his  character  more  convincing 
than  a  score  of  miracles. 

Even  to-day,  with  all  the  widening-out  of 
thought,  with  all  the  brilliant  generalization 
of  the  philosophers,  with  all  the  bands  of  steel 
that  girdle  the  planet  and  bring  the  continents 
together,  with  all  the  marvels  of  steam  and 
printing  and  electricity  which  make  men  mas- 
ters of  space  and  conquerors  of  time,  so  that  we 
are  all  citizens  of  one  city,  having  Central  Asia 
and  Central  Africa  for  suburbs,  still  we  are  be- 
hind the  thought  of  Jesus  Christ.  We  are  not 
yet  as  wide-minded  as  he  was.  We  are  still 
content  within  the  limits  of  a  provincial  and 
parochial  Christianity.  We  still  need  sermons 
upon  foreign  missions. 

One  of  the  disadvantages  of  foreign  missions 
is  that  they  are  such  a  long  way  off.  Not  many 
of  us  have  visited  Africa  or  China,  or  ever 
expect  to.  We  find  it  difficult  to  realize  the 
conditions  of  life  and  work  in  those  distant 
regions.     The  imagination,  always  an  essential 


FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  245 

element  in  enthusiasm,  finds  little  to  build  upon. 
What  our  missionaries  are  doing  in  those  remote 
countries,  what  their  hardships  are,  ^what  kind 
of  stumbling-blocks  they  have  to  change  into 
stepping-stones,  and  how  they  are  succeeding 
in  that  difficult  endeavor,  we  do  but  vaguely 
know. 

This  is  not  the  fault  of  the  missionaries. 
They  do  their  best  to  keep  us  posted.  They 
are  forever  writing  letters,  and  their  correspond- 
ence is  printed  every  month  in  full  in  our  mis- 
sionary magazines.  But  we  do  not  read  the 
letters.  The  whole  matter  is  out  of  sight  and 
out  of  mind.  These  good  men  are  doing  our 
work.  They  represent  us.  They  are  in  our 
place,  out  there  on  the  border,  trying  where 
such  effort  is  imperatively  needed  to  make  this 
world  a  Christian  place  to  live  in,  and  succeed- 
ing wonderfully  well,  for  the  most  part.  But 
we  are  not  interested.  It  is  said  that  in  some 
churches  the  announcement  that  upon  the  fol- 
lowing Sunday  a  missionary  from  some  remote 
outpost  of  the  church  will  be  the  speaker  will 
considerably  diminish  the  size  of  the  congrega- 
tion.    We  have  no  special  love  for  missionaries. 

One  of  the  reasons  why  we  do  not  read 
foreign  missionary  correspondence   with   more 


246  FOREIGN   MISSIONS. 

interest  is  that  we  are  so  far  behind  in  mis- 
sionary history.  The  letters  take  for  granted, 
of  necessity,  a  hundred  things  which  we  ought 
to  know,  but  of  which  we  are  quite  ignorant. 
It  is  like  taking  up  a  newspaper  to-day,  after  a 
month's  interruption,  and  reading  the  latest 
news  of  the  latest  war.  It  would  be  unintelli- 
gible. 

Another  reason  why  the  letters  do  not  in- 
terest us  is  that  they  are  not  particularly 
interesting.  They  are  very  quiet,  unromantic, 
commonplace  epistles.  They  tell  about  plant- 
ing gardens,  and  building  cabins,  and  teaching 
arithmetic  and  theology,  and  preaching  the  old 
gospel  to  small  congregations.  The  kind  of 
correspondence  that  would  really  attract  us 
must  read  like  chapters  out  of  mediseval  his- 
tory. We  would  like  to  hear  of  the  conversion 
of  vast  multitudes,  of  the  dramatic  baptism  of 
pagan  warriors  and  princes,  of  the  tragic  mar- 
tyrdom of  some  of  our  missionaries. 

Instead  of  that,  the  work  goes  on  for  the  most 
part  quietly  and  most  undramatically.  It  is  not 
especially  brilliant  work.  But  we  have  good 
reason  to  believe  that  it  is  honest,  effective,  and 
permanent  work,  which  is  far  better.  There  is 
probably  more  martyrdom  than  we  hear  of ;  but 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS.  247 

it  is  that  silent,  everyday  martyrdom  of  personal 
self-sacrifice  and  unsparing  service,  which  does 
not  take  up  many  paragraphs  in  history,  but 
which  has  its  honorable  record,  none  the  less, 
upon  the  pages  of  God's  book  of  remembrance. 

We  are  sometimes  told  —  usually  by  people 
who  do  not  read  missionary  reports  —  that 
foreign  missions  are  a  failure.  The  Board  of 
Missions  does  not  think  so.  The  statistics  of 
missionary  work  do  not  show  it.  The  testimony 
of  intelligent  travellers  is  not  to  that  effect. 
Even  if  the  work  did  seem  to  be  a  failure,  that 
might  not  mean  that  it  had  actually  failed. 
Any  superficial  Roman  tourist,  visiting  Jerusa- 
lem during  the  lifetime  of  Jesus,  would  easily 
note  in  his  journal  that  the  Christian  movement 
was  the  most  evident  of  failures.  God  knows 
what  fails  and  what  succeeds ;  no  one  else 
knows.  Often  our  success  has  another  name 
with  him,  and  he  who  in  the  sight  of  men  has 
failed  wins  the  crown  which  God  has  promised 
to  the  victor. 

It  is  not  easy  to  measure  spiritual  accomplish- 
ment. Foreign  missions  are  hard,  slow  work, 
like  any  kind  of  missions,  like  any  sort  of  refor- 
mation. The  good  that  is  done  cannot  well  be 
set  down  in  figures,  nor  estimated  in  dollars, 


248  FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

uor  reported  in  statistics,  nor  discovered  by  the 
passing  traveller.  It  is  safe  to  multiply  most 
missionary  reports  by  ten. 

Suppose  we  say,  then,  that  the  first  barrier  in 
the  way  of  missionary  enthusiasm  is  ignorance. 

But  if  we  knew  all  that  anybody  can  know 
about  the  results  of  foreign  missions,  and  if  we 
multiplied  our  information  even  by  twenty, 
would  it  not  still  be  true  that  our  first  duty  is 
just  here  at  home  ?  Would  it  not  be  true  that 
the  best  place  to  spend  missionary  money  is 
right  here  ?     Undoubtedly  it  would. 

The  first  and  most  imperative  duty  of  a  man 
or  a  nation  or  a  church  is  the  duty  that  lies 
nearest.  The  great  work  which  God  has  given 
the  Christian  Church  in  this  land  to  do  in  this 
day  is  not  the  work  of  foreign  missions.  With 
our  great  heathen  cities  close  beside  us ;  with 
the  wide  West  every  day  growing,  and  every 
day  having  its  character  determined  more  and 
more  towards  good  or  towards  evil,  we  have  a 
plain,  an  unmistakable  duty.  It  is  the  Chris- 
tianizing of  this  continent.  England  may  well 
set  foreign  missions  first.  That  is  the  manifest 
duty  and  province  of  that  Christian  nation. 
England  has  no  domestic  missions.  But  our 
duty  is  other  than  that.     We  give  to-day  twice 


I^OREIGN   MISSIONS.  249 

as  much  toward  the  maintenance  of  missions 
at  home  as  we  do  in  support  of  the  missions 
abroad.  We  might  well  give  five  times  as 
much. 

There  are  two  ways,  however,  of  doing  that. 
One  is  to  divide  foreign  missions  by  five ;  the 
other  is  to  multiply  home  missions  by  five. 

To  say  that  mission  work  at  home  is  our  first 
duty  does  not  mean  that  it  is  our  only  duty. 
It  would  be  as  wise  to  say  that  because  the 
Bible  is  the  most  important  book  that  any  man 
can  read,  therefore  he  ought  to  read  the  Bible 
and  no  other  book  at  all.  Do  the  nearest  task, 
but  do  not  let  that  fill  the  whole  horizon  of 
your  interest.  Provide  for  yourself  and  for 
your  family;  that  is  well.  But  if  you  stop 
there,  if  you  shut  everybody  else  out  when  you 
shut  the  door  of  your  house,  you  are  both  in- 
hospitable and  selfish.  That  man  will  do  the 
nearest  duty  best  who  recognizes  his  remoter 
duties  also.  The  wider  interests  a  man  has, 
the  better  he  is  fulfilling  the  purpose  for  which 
God  has  put  him  here,  and  the  better  it  is  for 
the  man.  It  is  interesting  to  look  through  a 
microscope,  but  not  all  the  time.  We  cannot 
conveniently  get  along  without  looking-glasses, 
but  windows  are  better.     Narrow  interests  make 


250  FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

men  narrow-minded.  Narrow  giving  makes  nar- 
row parishes. 

Begin  at  Jerusalem,  the  Lord  said,  but  reach 
out  to  Judea  and  to  Samaria,  and  to  the  utter- 
most parts  of  the  earth.  When  we  follow  that 
command,  when  we  realize  that  the  humblest 
offering  in  the  obscurest  church  affects  the 
progress  of  Christ's  religion  in  China,  in  India, 
and  along  the  coasts  of  Africa,  we  begin  to 
see  what  the  word  "  catholic "  means  in  the 
creed;  we  gain  a  glimpse  of  the  church  uni- 
versal. 

We  live  at  the  centre  of  a  series  of  widening 
circles,  —  the  family,  the  parish,  the  diocese, 
the  national  church,  the  great  church  catholic. 
There  must  be  no  hindering  of  effort.  The 
interests  of  the  family  must  not  obstruct  the 
interests  of  the  parish,  nor  may  the  interests 
of  the  church  at  home  tempt  us  to  neglect 
the  church  abroad.  I  am  afraid,  accordingly, 
that  we  will  have  to  add  a  second  reason 
for  the  absence  of  many  Christians  from  the 
honorable  roll  of  missionary  helpers.  We  will 
have  to  say  that  foreign  missions  are  hin- 
dered not  only  by  ignorance,  but  by  narrow- 
ness. 

But  neither  enlightenment  nor  breadth  will 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS.  ^51 

breed  enthusiasm.  Enthusiasm  begins  at  the 
heart.  Our  fathers  had  two  arguments  for 
foreign  missions  which  were  meant  to  make 
men  enthusiastic  by  touching  their  hearts. 

It  used  to  be  said  that  foreign  missions  ought 
to  be  maintained  because  in  the  absence  of  the 
preaching  of  the  word  of  truth  these  poor  be- 
nighted people  are  falling  moment  by  moment, 
score  by  score,  into  the  everlasting  flames  of 
hell.  No  salvation  outside  the  visible  church ! 
no  salvation  except  to  him  who  has  heard  the 
syllables  of  the  name  of  Jesus !  If  that  is  true 
we  have  no  right  to  think  of  anything  else. 
Who  may  dare  to  forget  it !  The  clock  ticks, 
and  second  by  second,  as  the  hours  pass,  an  im- 
mortal soul  plunges  into  immortal  agony. 

I  cannot  believe  it.  Even  the  Christians  who 
have  had  it  in  their  creed  are  trying  hard  in 
these  days  to  get  it  out.  We  are  not  told  how 
God  will  save  the  heathen.  The  Bible  was  not 
written  for  the  heathen,  and  so  does  not  under- 
take to  answer  that  question.  The  spirit  of 
revelation  in  this  and  many  other  like  questions 
is  seen  in  the  reply  of  Jesus  to  him  who  asked, 
"  Are  there  few  that  be  saved  ?  "  when  he  an- 
swered, "  Strive  to  enter  in."  Every  honest 
pagan,  whether  he  be   Buddhist  or  Brahmin, 


252  S'OREIGN  MISSIONS. 

Parsee  or  Mohammedan,  who  up  to  the  meas- 
ure of  the  opportunity  which  God  has  given 
him  serves  God  and  his  neighbor,  surely  the 
just  and  loving  Father  in  heaven,  who  cannot 
but  do  right,  will  save  him.  Verily,  they  shall 
come  from  the  east  and  from  the  west,  out  of 
the  wild  forests,  out  of  the  shrines  of  heathen 
worship,  and  shall  sit  down  in  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  before  some  of  us.  Surely  it  means 
something  when  we  are  taught  that  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Light,  lighteneth  every  man ;  and 
that  there  are  other  sheep  outside  our  narrow 
fold.  Them,  also,  in  his  own  wise  and  good 
way,  will  God  bring. 

It  used  to  be  advanced  as  a  second  argument, 
—  and  this  significant  logic  has  not  yet  alto- 
gether disappeared  from  the  columns  of  reli- 
gious papers, —  it  used  to  be  said  that  we  ought 
to  be  zealous  for  foreign  missions  because  other 
Christian  communions  are  so  active  in  that 
field.  The  motive  of  competition  was  brought 
in.  Denominational  loyalty  was  appealed  to. 
Unless  we  are  awake  and  aggressive  these  hea- 
then will  all  be  converted  into  Presbyterian  or 
Methodist  or  Roman  Catholic  Christians,  rather 
than  into  good  Protestant  Episcopalian  Chris- 
tians, as  we  should  desire.     The  argument  needs 


I^OREIGN  MISSIONS.  253 

only  to  be  thus  frankly  stated  to  be  proved  un- 
worthy. It  is  one  of  many  strange  and  unchris- 
tian positions  which  our  unhappy  divisions  have 
made  possible. 

What,  then,  is  the  motive  of  missions  ?  Obe- 
dience and  appreciation.  To  do  the  will  of 
Jesus  Christ,  to  make  the  truth  of  Jesus  known 
in  all  its  blessed  meaning ;  these  are  the  best 
reasons.  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and  preach 
the  gospel  to  every  creature." 

Jesus  said  that.  He  who  looked  into  the 
future,  age  after  age,  into  this  present,  said 
that.  We  have  inherited  this  official  marching 
order  of  the  militant  church.  This  is  what  the 
church  is  for.  "  Unto  all  the  world,"  "  to  every 
creature,"  —  that  means  foreign  missions.  It 
meant  foreign  missions  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
when  our  own  heathen  and  barbarian  ancestors 
were  persuaded  to  change  the  battle-axe  of  Odin 
into  the  cross  of  Christ.  It  meant  foreign  mis- 
sions a  hundred  years  ago,  when  a  struggling 
church  within  these  coasts  asked  help  from  over 
the  ocean.  And  it  means  foreign  missions  now, 
when  we  who,  thanks  to  the  care  of  foreign 
missionaries,  are  able  to  help  ourselves,  are  asked 
to  lend  the  same  good  helping  hand  to  some- 
body else.  Who  will  contradict  the  command 
of  Jesus  Christ  ? 


254  FOBEIGN  MISSIONS. 

"The  gospel," — the  good  tidings, — is  it 
worth  anything  ?  Does  it  make  the  world  bet- 
ter ?  Is  it  true  that  there  is  a  warmth  and  light 
in  it  which  make  all  good  things  grow,  which 
little  by  little  change  this  very  unsatisfactoiy 
earth  into  some  likeness  to  heaven,  which  help 
men  out  of  sin  and  sorrow,  lift  them  up  and 
make  them  glad?  Do  we  believe  it?  Then 
we  cannot  be  content  till  we  have  shared  our 
blessing  with  every  hungry  soul  under  God's 
sky.  It  tests  us,  this  call  to  help  in  the  spread- 
ing of  the  gospel.  It  shows  our  own  honest 
appreciation  of  the  gospel. 

Foreign  missionaries  are  sent  to  teach  men 
truth.  We  know  what  that  truth  has  done 
for  us.  We  want  that  same  blessed  uplifting 
influence  to  get  into  every  corner  of  the  wide 
earth.  We  know  what  that  truth  is  to  us.  We 
want  to  share  that  benediction,  that  strength, 
that  divine  comfort,  with  every  needy,  tempted, 
sinful,  and  sorrowful  brother  of  ours  the  whole 
world  over.  The  good  tidings  of  the  love  of 
God,  the  good  tidings  of  the  clearer  revelation  of 
God's  truth  and  of  man's  duty,  the  good  tidings 
that  in  the  midst  of  this  blind  and  guilty  race  a 
blessed  cross  was  set  up  nineteen  hundi-ed  years 
ago,  whence,   as   from  a  great  world-pulpit,  a 


FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  255 

Saviour  preached  the  love  of  the  heavenly 
Father  and  the  sinfulness  of  human  sin  so  that 
everybody  could  understand  it,  and  nobody 
could  forget  it,  —  this  is  the  message  of  mis- 
sions. 

Who  will  deny  that  such  a  message  is  worth 
while  ? 


THE   CATTLE   OF  NINEVEH. 


And  also  much  cattle."  —  Jonah  iv.  11. 


Everybody  knows  that  the  Book  of  Jonah 
contains  a  remarkable  story  about  a  fish.  It  is 
likely  that  the  information  of  a  great  many 
people  in  regard  to  this  book  is  altogether  con- 
fined to  the  limits  of  this  story.  What  is  the 
Book  of  Jonah  about  ?  It  is  about  a  fish  which 
swallowed  a  man.  That  would  be  the  answer 
of  a  surprising  number,  even  of  intelligent 
people. 

The  truth  is,  however,  that  while  there  are 
four  chapters  in  this  book,  the  account  of  the 
adventure  with  the  fish  is  contained  in  three 
short  sentences.  The  Book  of  Jonah  is  one  of 
the  most  interesting,  suggestive,  and  instructive 
books  in  the  whole  Bible.  It  is  one  of  the  text 
books  of  tolerance.  It  teaches  the  universal 
love  of  God.  It  does  not  hesitate  to  compare 
the  prophet  of  Israel,  to  his  disadvantage,  with 
the  pagan  crew  of  a  Mediterranean  sailing  ves- 
sel. It  records  the  quick  answer  that  God 
gave  to  the  prayers  of  pagan  Nineveh.  One  of 
256 


THE   CATTLE  OF   NINEVEH.  257 

the  lessons  of  it  is  that  all  promises  of  punish- 
ment are  conditioned  upon  the  penitence  of  the 
criminal.  The  most  absolute  menace  of  certain 
destruction  is  taken  back  and  changed  into 
benediction  when  the  sinner  is  sorry  for  his 
sin.  The  Book  of  Jonah  teaches  us  how  to 
read  some  hard  sentences  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment about  the  damnation  of  the  wicked.  It  is 
a  book  of  justice  and  of  mercy,  a  revelation  of 
the  universal  fatherhood  of  God.  The  least 
important  part  of  the  book  is  the  story  of  the 
fish. 

To  fasten  upon  that,  to  emphasize  that,  to 
bring  that  into  the  foreground,  and  to  put  all 
the  great  religious  lessons  of  this  wonderful 
book  into  the  dim  and  neglected  background,  is 
as  if  a  congregation  should  seize  upon  some 
petty  figure  of  a  great  sermon,  some  singular 
illustration  or  momentary  error  of  utterance, 
and  think  about  that,  and  talk  about  that,  and 
forget  all  the  helpful  words  that  had  been  said 
besides.  That,  indeed,  is  human  nature.  But 
we  need  to  be  on  guard  against  the  mistakes  of 
human  nature.  Take  a  pencil  and  mark  out 
those  three  verses,  and  then  read  this  wonder- 
ful, wise,  uplifting  book. 

If  we  are  to  give  attention  to  any  animals  in 


268  THE  CATTLE   OF   NINEVEH. 

the  Book  of  Jonah,  we  will  do  well  to  leave  the 
fish  and  take  the  cattle.  Let  us  stand  upon 
the  solid  ground.  Let  us  turn  our  backs  upon 
this  mysterious  fish,  which  we  see  but  uncer- 
tainly beneath  the  shifting  waves,  and  which,  it 
is  possible,  belongs  rather  to  the  world  of  poetry 
than  to  the  world  of  real  fishing-smacks,  and 
let  us  consider  the  cattle  that  we  know,  —  the 
everyday  cows  and  horses  of  old  Nineveh,  which 
Jonah  cared  so  little  about,  and  which  the  critics 
and  commentators  and  indifferent  readers  have 
cared  no  more  about,  but  which  were  of  interest 
and  value  in  the  sight  of  God. 

For  we  read  that  Jonah  was  disappointed 
when  his  fierce  sermon  failed  to  come  true. 
He  stood  out  in  the  suburbs  of  the  city  on  that 
fatal  fortieth  day  and  watched  the  sky.  He 
prayed  for  thunder  and  lightning,  for  red-hot 
shafts  of  destruction,  for  fiery  hail  and  brim- 
stone, for  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  over  again. 
And  when  the  sun  went  on  shining,  and  the 
day  came  to  an  end,  and  the  town  still  stood, 
and  no  torment  from  the  hand  of  God  touched 
it,  Jonah  was  sore  grieved.  He  felt  himself 
abused.  God  had  dealt  unkindly  with  him. 
God  had  sent  him  to  preach  punishment,  to 
prophesy  hell,  and  then  God  had  not  punished. 


THE   CATTLE   OF   NINEVEH.  259 

Better  that  all  Nineveh  should  perish,  Jonah 
thought,  than  that  his  sermons  should  be  thus 
discredited. 

Then  God  spoke  to  Jonah.  God  told  Jonah 
that  he  loved  those  children  of  his  in  Nineveh ; 
yes,  the  most  ignorant  and  the  meanest  of 
them ;  yes,  even  the  very  cows  and  horses  of 
Nineveh.  "  Should  I  not  have  pity  on  Nineveh, 
that  great  city,  wherein  are  more  than  sixscore 
thousand  persons  that  cannot  discern  between 
their  right  hand  and  their  left  hand;  and  also 
much  cattle  ?  " 

The  lesson  that  I  want  to  emphasize  is  that 
God  cares  for  cattle.  God  looks  down  upon 
this  city,  and  he  thinks  not  only  about  the 
good  people,  and  the  important  people,  —  as  we 
count  importance, — and  the  rich  and  influential 
people,  and  the  poor  people  crowded  together  in 
narrow  and  unclean  dwellings,  living  in  destitu- 
tion physical  and  intellectual  and  moral,  scarcely 
knowing  the  difference  between  right  and  left, 
scarcely  knowing  the  difference  between  right 
and  wrong;  but  God  thinks  also  of  all  the 
horses  in  the  city,  knows  what  sort  of  food  they 
have,  and  what  kind  of  stables  they  live  in,  and 
the  work  that  is  put  upon  them,  and  all  the 
treatment   that  is  given  them.     God  has  re- 


260  THE  CATTLE   OF   NINEVEH. 

gard  for  all  the  cattle,  for  the  horses  and  the 
cows,  for  the  cats  and  the  dogs,  for  the  birds, 
for  all  the  living  creatures  he  has  made.  God 
is  present  not  only  in  the  house  of  prayer,  but 
also  in  the  stockyards. 

Jonah  was  willing  —  yes,  and  desirous  —  that 
the  inhabitants  of  Nineveh,  the  men  and  the 
women  and  the  little  children,  should  all  die 
horribly.  He  stood  by  with  a  certain  pleased 
anticipation,  waiting  to  see  the  agony  begin. 
There  is  an  unmistakable  element  of  cruelty  in 
human  nature.  The  story  of  the  life  of  man 
has  fearful  chapters  in  it,  chapters  written  in 
red,  —  records  of  war,  of  massacres,  of  murders, 
of  martyrdoms.  Jonah  has  stood  exulting  a 
hundred  thousand  times  and  watched  the  vin- 
dication of  his  doctrine  in  the  torments  of  his 
brethren.  The  whole  world  over,  in  savagery 
and  in  civilization,  in  all  lands,  in  the  times 
that  are  told  of  in  the  ancient  histories,  and  in 
the  day  that  is  recorded  in  this  morning's  paper, 
that  old  inhuman  attitude  of  the  prophet  by  the 
city  is  to  be  seen. 

Think  of  the  slaughter  by  the  great  armies  of 
Assyria  and  Egypt !  Think  of  the  horrors  of 
the  old  religions,  with  their  mutilations  and 
their  human  sacrifices  I     Think  of  the  slave  life 


THE  CATTLE   OF   NINEVEH.  261 

of  Greece  and  Rome,  where  the  fair  ladies  of 
society  thrust  the  long  pins  that  held  their 
hair  into  the  flesh  of  offending  servants  ! 
Think  of  the  vast  multitudes  of  pleasure- 
seekers  who  crowded  the  amphitheatres  of  the 
Empire,  as  gayly  as  people  go  now  of  an  even- 
ing to  the  play,  that  they  might  watch  the 
murder  of  their  fellow-men,  and  study  the 
agonies  of  violent  death ;  where  the  vestal  vir- 
gins, the  women  of  religion,  held  down  their 
thumbs  to  indicate  to  the  victorious  gladiator 
that  he  was  to  hack  his  victim's  head  off! 
Think  of  all  the  barbarous  punishments,  the 
crucifixions,  the  martyr  fires,  the  racks  and 
wheels,  the  black  dungeons !  Think  of  the 
tortures  of  the  Inquisition,  of  the  woes  of  Rus- 
sian prisons,  and  the  agonies  of  Siberian  exile ! 
Think  of  what  is  going  on  to-day  in  Central 
Africa  at  the  hands  of  Arab  slave-traders  I  Or 
do  but  read  the  daily  papers ;  study  there  the 
fearful  story  of  man's  continued  inhumanity  to 
man ;  learn  of  the  injustice,  of  the  oppression,  of 
the  real  wrong,  of  the  blows  and  the  beatings, 
of  the  murders,  that  day  by  day  take  place  in 
every  city. 

Abel's   cry  has  been   echoed  all  along  the 
centuries. 


262       THE  CATTLE  OF  NINEVEH. 

Here  is  a  man  who  beats  a  little  five-year-old 
boy  with  a  clothes  line,  doubling  up  the  rope 
and  using  it  upon  the  baby,  "  all  over  his  body 
and  across  his  face,"  until  he  is  a  "mass  of 
bruises  and  lacerated  flesh." 

Another  father,  not  once  nor  twice,  but  many 
times,  whips  his  two  motherless  children,  a  girl 
of  seven  and  a  boy  of  nine,  with  a  whip  that 
was  meant  for  driving  mules. 

Still  another  fastens  a  dog-chain  about  the 
neck  of  his  ten-year-old  son,  and  beats  him  with 
a  heavy  strap  upon  his  naked  body ;  and  the 
mother,  in  the  same  family,  'Hortures  another 
of  their  children  by  holding  his  hand,  first  the 
palm,  then  the  back,  upon  a  hot  stove." 

And  yet  some  people  think  that  we  have  no 
need  of  a  Humane  Society,  without  which  these 
fiendish  crimes  would  never  have  been  brought 
to  punishment ! 

One  by  one  the  great  and  conspicuous  cruel- 
ties of  man  against  man  are  being  done  away. 
The  conscience  of  the  race  is  getting  more  and 
more  awakened.  We  are  no  longer  content  to 
stand  apart  like  Jonah,  willing  to  watch  the 
sufferings  of  our  fellow-creatures.  The  cruel- 
ties of  the  old  savagery  and  the  old  civilization 
have  almost  ceased  out  of  decent  society.     The 


THE  CATTLE  OP  NINEVEH.  263 

prize  fight  is  the  last  survival  of  the  murders 
of  the  arena.  Africa  is  the  last  stronghold  of 
slavery.  The  desire  of  all  good  people  to-day 
is  to  preach  at  least  the  need  of  the  deliverance 
of  all  those  who  are  held  captive  even  in  the 
bondage  of  our  industrial  conditions.  The  old 
fierce  punishments  are  mitigated.  The  whole 
Christian  world  reprobates  Russia  for  her  toler- 
ation of  a  form  of  imprisonment  which  was 
once  well-nigh  universal.  The  race  is  growing 
kinder.  Domestic  cruelty,  the  longest  to  sur- 
vive and  the  hardest  to  get  at,  is  being  driven 
out  into  the  light,  thrust  into  the  patrol  wagon, 
and  brought  up  at  the  bar  of  justice.  Public 
sentiment,  which  was  once  as  indifferent  to 
suffering  as  the  expectant  Jonah,  is  more  ten- 
der-hearted, more  indignant  against  the  agents 
of  pain,  and  more  Christian  than  it  has  ever 
been  before. 

Now,  we  need  to  carry  this  tender  mercy  a 
little  farther  on.  We  need  to  remember  that 
the  Christian  spirit  of  love  reaches  out  and 
takes  in  not  every  human  being,  but  every 
living  creature  under  heaven.  We  need  to  re- 
member that  God  our  Father  is  the  Father  also 
of  the  cattle. 

God  cares.     He  cares  for  all  the  little  birds. 


264  THE  CATTLE  OF  NINEVEH. 

Jesus  has  reminded  us  how  the  heavenly  Father 
feedeth  them,  and  how  not  even  a  sparrow  falls 
to  the  ground  without  his  notice.  If  the  little 
bird  falls  to  the  ground  because  somebody  has 
shot  him,  or  thrown  a  stone  at  him,  just  for  the 
pleasure  of  shooting  or  stoning,  God  notices 
that.  If  the  little  bird  is  stoned  or  shot  in 
order  that  he  may  be  torn  to  pieces  and  made 
into  ornaments  for  women's  bonnets,  God  knows 
that.     And  God  cares. 

God  cares  for  all  the  horses.  Not  a  horse 
is  overburdened  or  overdriven  or  ill-treated 
without  God's  notice. 

It  is  evident  that  a  good  many  people  think 
that  they  know  more  about  horses  than  God 
does.  God  gave  the  horse  an  arched  neck,  but 
we  have  improved  that  with  a  check-rein.  God 
gave  the  horse  eyes  to  see  with,  but  we  have 
provided  him  with  blinders.  I  saw  one  day  in 
London  an  exhibition  of  the  instruments  of  the 
Arab  slave-traders.  There  were  the  yokes  that 
were  fastened  to  the  necks  of  the  captives,  and 
the  manacles  that  went  about  their  wrists  and 
ankles,  and  the  heavy  chains  with  which  they 
were  loaded  down,  and  the  stout  whips  with 
which  they  were  beaten.  It  would  be  possible 
to  arrange  a  similar  exhibition  of  the   imple- 


THE  CATTLE  OF  KINEVEH.  265 

ments  of  a  man's  cruelty  to  his  humble  slaves, 
the  horses. 

There  would  be  the  check-rein,  by  which  the 
head  is  held  up  in  a  constrained  and  unnatural 
position,  and  the  eyes  are  brought  away  from 
the  ground,  where  they  ought  to  watch  the  way 
of  the  feet,  into  the  blinding  face  of  the  sun, 
—  one  of  the  inventions  of  the  devil,  and  the 
cause  of  constant  and  increasing  and  absolutely 
unnecessary  pain.  There  would  be  the  blinders, 
by  which  the  horse,  who  sees  out  of  the  side  of 
his  eyes,  is  rendered  incapable  of  properly  tak- 
ing care  of  himself,  made  ready  to  take  fright 
at  sounds  which  he  cannot  understand,  and  has 
his  sight  impaired,  and  learns  a  new  kind  of 
pain  in  consequence.  There  would  be  the 
sharp  bit,  which  frets  and  cuts  the  mouth,  and 
puts  the  sensitive  creature  into  almost  intoler- 
able pain.  There  would  be  the  whip,  with  its 
abundant  possibilities  of  ministering  suffering 
in  the  hands  of  hasty,  or  foolish,  or  ill-tempered, 
or  ignorant  drivers. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  things  that  will 
be  pointed  out  concerning  this  display  of  instru- 
ments of  torture  in  the  museums  of  the  twen- 
tieth century,  in  the  days  when  religion  means 
so  much,  that  it  is  concerned  with  the  discom- 


266       THE  CATTLE  OF  NINEVEH. 

fort  of  the  humblest  living  creature,  will  be 
their  entire  uselessness.  They  will  be  seen  to 
serve  no  purpose  whatsoever,  save  to  put  one  of 
man's  most  intelligent  and  willing  and  faithful 
servants  into  a  condition  of  needless  suffering. 

To  do  to  others  as  we  would  have  them  do  to 
us  is  a  rule  so  wide  and  far-reaching  that  it 
takes  in  every  creature  that  the  good  God  has 
made.  It  includes  the  cattle.  God  looks  upon 
every  tortured  horse,  whether  he  be  tortured  in 
anger  by  a  brute  of  a  driver,  or  whether  he  be 
tortured  in  ignorance  and  thoughtlessness  for 
the  sake  of  following  a  foolish  fashion.  And 
God  cares. 

A  Hebrew  prophet  promised  long  ago,  that  in 
the  millennium  "  Holiness  to  the  Lord  "  should 
be  inscribed  upon  the  bells  of  all  the  horses. 
Yes,  and  on  all  their  harness  —  "  Holiness  to 
the  Lord  "  on  every  strap  and  buckle  !  And 
nothing  left  in  all  the  harness  upon  which  that 
sacred  phrase  could  not  consistently  be  set; 
nothing  left  which  would  offend  the  sight  of  the 
righteous  and  merciful  God,  who  cares  even  for 
the  cattle. 

Christian  people  ought  to  be  more  thoughtful, 
more  attentive  to  the  comfort  of  those  dumb 
creatures  who  can  only  look  at  us  and  cannot 


^HE  CATTLE  OF  NINEVEH.  267 

speak,  and  who  depend  so  utterly  upon  us. 
Another  Hebrew  prophet,  who  looked  in  his 
time  into  the  golden  age  of  the  ideal  future, 
saw  a  reign  of  perfect  peace,  in  whose  benedic- 
tion even  the  wildest  of  the  animals  shared  with 
man.  A  little  child,  he  said,  shall  lead  them. 
And  a  Christian  poet,  who  likewise  in  vision 
dreamed  of  the  blessed  world  to  come,  beheld 
those  living  creatures  joining  in  the  adoration 
of  men  and  angels  before  the  throne  of  God. 
"  The  earnest  expectation  of  the  creature  wait- 
eth  for  the  manifestation  of  the  sons  of  God." 
The  "  creature  "  is  the  brute  creation,  the  cows 
and  the  horses,  the  cats  and  dogs,  the  sheep  and 
goats,  of  our  fields  and  streets  and  homes  and 
stables.  And  the  "  sons  of  God  "  —  that  means 
us,  as  we  ought  to  be.  And  the  lesson  is  that 
God  has  made  these  animals  dependent  upon  us 
for  protection,  for  guidance,  for  help,  for  better- 
ment, for  inspiration.  God  has  given  these 
animals  into  our  care.  He  looks  to  us  to  min- 
ister to  them,  to  be  kind  to  them,  to  love  them. 
Every  man  in  a  stable  has  a  responsibility  which 
God  puts  upon  him.  The  whole  great  brute 
creation,  travailing  in  pain,  too  often  at  the 
hands  of  man,  waits  with  "  earnest  expectation  " 
for  that  redemption  of  the  creatures  which  will 


268       THE  CATTLE  OF  KINEVEH. 

begin  when  we  are  all  better  Christians  than  we 
are  at  present. 

To  be  tender-hearted  ought  to  be  one  of  the 
characteristics  of  the  Christian.  To  make  this 
world  a  better  and  happier  world  to  live  in  for 
all  the  men  and  all  the  women  and  all  the 
little  children  and  all  the  living  creatures  that 
are  in  it,  is  the  mission  of  religion  in  which  we 
ought  to  be  missionaries. 


THE  POWER   OF  PERSUASION. 


"I,  therefore,  the  prisoner  of  the  Lord,  beseech  you  that  ye 
walk  worthy  of  the  vocation  wherewith  ye  are  called."  —  Eph. 
iv.  1.  

Three  chapters  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephe- 
sians  are  represented  by  the  word  "  therefore." 
These  chapters  are  occupied  with  statements  of 
doctrine.  Predestination  and  redemption,  the 
nature  of  God  and  the  mission  of  Jesus  Christ, 
the  election  of  the  Jews  and  the  position  of 
the  Gentiles,  are  here  considered.  The  truth 
taught  is  that  the  love  of  God  embraces  every 
inhabitant  of  the  world ;  that  the  blood  of  Christ 
was  shed  for  every  man  who  lives ;  and  that  all 
the  old  walls  of  partition  are  cast  down  by  him, 
all  nations  brought  together,  the  last  made  first, 
the  remote  made  near,  the  Gentiles  recognized 
as  fellow-heirs  of  all  the  promises ;  "  therefore," 
we  are  to  walk  worthy  of  the  vocation  where- 
with we  are  called. 

The  word  stands  in  the  right  place.  The 
presence  of  it  marks  the  difference  between 
religion   and   theology.     Religion   is   theology 


270  THE  POWER  OF  PERSUASION. 

with  a  "  therefore."  It  is  doctrine  brought  into 
intimate  and  practical  relation  with  life.  When 
doctrine  is  stated  simply  as  doctrine,  and  stops 
there,  appealing  to  the  mind  but  not  to  the  will, 
expressing  truth,  but  not  applying  it  to  con- 
duct, then  it  belongs,  with  other  problems  of 
philosophy,  to  the  student.  It  is  a  mistake  to 
think  that  the  accepting  of  it  in  this  shape  is  a 
religious  act.  He  who  assents  to  the  proposi- 
tions of  the  creed  is  no  nearer  salvation,  if  he 
stops  there,  than  he  who  assents  to  the  theorems 
of  Euclid.  It  is  this  "  therefore  '*  that  is  needed 
to  bring  the  creed  into  living  relations  with 
religion. 

"  I  believe  in  God  the  Father,"  therefore  I 
must  try  to  live  like  a  son  of  God.  And  so  on 
through  the  creed..  It  must  be  applied,  every 
article  of  it,  to  the  details  of  our  daily  behavior ; 
else  it  is  spiritually  worthless.  Set  this  down 
for  sure,  that  nothing  is  believed  —  in  God's 
sense  of  belief  —  which  is  not  used.  Our  creed 
is  as  long  or  as  short  as  our  application  of  it  in 
our  words  and  deeds.  God  sets  absolutely  no 
value  whatever  upon  intellectual  orthodoxy. 
He  looks  at  our  lives  to  find  the  orthodoxy  that 
he  wants.  True  it  is  th^t  God  loves  us,  and 
that  CJhrist  has  redeemed  us,  and  that  we  are 


THE   POWER   OF   PERSUASION.  271 

all  called  and  elect,  no  more  strangers  and  for- 
eigners, but  fellow-citizens  with  the  saints  and 
of  the  household  of  God,  —  therefore  we  are  to 
walk  worthy  of  that  high  vocation.  And  the 
apostle  goes  on  through  three  chapters  more  to 
remind  us  of  what  that  means.  Whereof  the 
text  is  the  beginning. 

"I,  therefore,  the  prisoner  of  the  Lord,  be- 
seech you."  That  is  the  way  to  persuade  men. 
You  and  I  will  be  of  use  in  the  world  accord- 
ing as  we  work  after  that  pattern. 

For  every  good  Christian  has  the  same  sort 
of  responsibility  that  Paul  had,  —  the  responsi- 
bility of  service,  the  duty  of  persuasion,  the 
task  of  the  missionary.  That  is  but  a  narrow 
and  mistaken  notion  of  the  ministry  which 
shuts  it  up  to  a  few  men  in  black  coats,  who 
have  studied  in  theological  seminaries,  and 
have  been  ordained  and  stand  in  pulpits.  We 
are  all  ministers.  That  is  but  an  idle,  un- 
worthy, and  untrue  conception  of  the  Christian 
life  which  makes  it  out  to  be  a  passive  state 
in  which  we  only  receive  the  ministration  of 
others.  To  be  persuaded,  and  exhorted,  and 
taught,  and  reasoned  with,  and  gone  after,  and 
kept  up  to  the  mark,  and  encouraged,  and  con- 
soled, and  strengthened,  is,  indeed,  a  part  of  re- 


272  THE   POWER   OF   PERSUASION. 

ligion,  and  a  blessed  part.  But  the  best  part  is 
the  communication  of  blessing,  the  sharing  of 
privilege,  the  undertaking  of  service.  Even  as 
St.  Paul  rejoiced  that  God  had  comforted  him 
in  his  trouble,  because  now  he  knew  how  to 
comfort  others ;  therein  following  his  Master, 
who  came  not  to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to 
minister.     That  is  the  Christian  spirit. 

We  are  set  here  to  do  something,  to  help 
somebody,  to  make  the  neighborhood  a  better 
place  to  live  in.  The  ideal  life  is  that  which 
Jesus  lived.  And  that  was  a  life  of  ministry. 
He  was  not  a  clergyman.  He  had  never  studied 
in  the  schools.  He  had  never  been  ordained, 
any  more  than  you  have.  He  was  a  layman, 
and  his  life  is  a  pattern  for  laymen.  Who  can 
imagine  him  content  with  the  saying  of  prayers, 
and  attendance  at  service,  and  attention  to  ser- 
mons, and  the  reading  of  good  books,  and  the 
decent  shaping  of  his  own  life,  careless  of  his 
neighbor's  life?  Who  can  imagine  him  claim- 
ing the  benediction  of  God  —  as  some  of  us  do 
— because  he  broke  none  of  the  commandments 
and  harmed  nobody  ?  He  went  about  doing 
good.  That  was  his  supreme  reason  for  living. 
Every  man,  every  woman,  who  has  bis  spirit 
follows  his  example. 


THE   POWER   OP   PERSUASION.  273 

Now  take  a  lesson  in  the  work  of  the  min- 
istry from  these  words  of  St.  Paul.  His  pur- 
pose is  the  same  as  ours,  —  to  be  of  service,  to 
teach  what  he  has  learned,  to  extend  the  king- 
dom of  Jesus  Christ.  I  have  already  noted  the 
practical  meaning  which  he  gave  to  his  instruc- 
tions. The  Sunday-school  teacher  will  do  well 
to  remember  that.  It  is  of  small  importance 
that  children  should  be  made  acquainted  with 
the  history  of  the  people  of  Israel,  with  the 
names  of  the  books  of  the  Bible,  with  the  mira- 
cles of  Jesus,  or  the  sentences  of  his  sermons, 
or  the  acts  of  the  apostles.  These  things, 
taught  intellectually,  with  an  appeal  only  to 
the  understanding  and  the  memory,  are  no  bet- 
ter than  so  much  grammar  or  geography.  They 
must  be  taught  religiously.  They  must  be 
brought  to  bear  upon  the  temptations  of  Mon- 
day and  Tuesday,  upon  the  tasks  of  Wednesday 
and  Thursday.  They  must  be  dealt  with  alto- 
gether for  the  sake  of  character. 

Fathers  and  mothers  will  do  well  to  see  that 
this  significant  word  "  therefore  "  is  not  lacking 
in  their  domestic  lessons  in  religion.  What  is 
this  truth  for,  that  you  are  teaching  ?  What  is 
its  bearing  upon  life,  in  the  schoolroom,  in  the 
nursery,  and  in  the  hours  of  play  ?  Therefore 
—  what  ? 


274  THE   POWER   OF   PERSUASION. 

I  am  concerned,  however,  at  present  to  study- 
rather  the  attitude  of  the  apostle  towards  the 
people  to  whom  he  writes,  —  what  kind  of  feel- 
ing he  has  for  them  and  about  them.  For  that 
ought  to  help  us  in  our  own  endeavors  to  be 
helpful. 

Notice,  then,  that  he  is  personally  interested 
in  the  people  with  whom  he  deals.  He  is  ac- 
quainted with  them,  and  they  with  him.  He 
cares  for  them.  He  loves  them.  Thus  he  be- 
gins by  beseeching  them.  This  is  not  argu- 
ment, it  is  not  theological  abstraction,  it  is  not 
rhetoric;  it  is  the  direct  appeal  of  the  heart  of 
a  man  to  the  heart  of  his  brother.  It  is  personal 
persuasion. 

There  is  not  much  use  in  any  other  kind  of 
ministry  than  this.  If  we  are  to  be  of  help,  we 
must  look  into  our  brother's  face,  and  know  his 
name,  and  take  him  by  the  hand,  and  be  hon- 
estly interested  in  him.  Nothing  will  take  the 
place  of  that.  How  am  I  to  be  of  use  in  the 
world  when  I  have  no  money,  and  no  influence, 
and  no  special  ability,  and  no  gifts  of  speech, 
and  do  not  know  what  to  do  ?  A  great  many 
people  are  asking  that  question.  And  the  an- 
swer is,  that  everybody  who  has  a  heart  can 
help.    You  can  make  life  pleasanter  and  richer 


THE   POWER   OF   PERSUASION.  275 

and  wider  and  higher  by  simply  being  thought- 
ful every  day  for  the  best  interests  of  one  per- 
son who  has  a  harder  lot  than  you  have. 

"  I,  therefore,  the  prisoner  of  the  Lord,  be- 
seech you."  Listen  to  that  tone  of  personal 
interest,  to  that  voice  of  fraternal  affection. 
Only  thus  can  men  be  helped. 

And  notice,  also,  how  St.  Paul  brings  in  his 
own  experience.  He  is  the  "prisoner  of  the 
Lord."  He  writes  from  Rome,  and  his  prison 
there  is  no  mere  figure  of  speech,  but  a  cold, 
hard  reality  of  stone  and  iron.  He  wears  a  chain 
for  the  Lord's  sake.  And  so  he  is  able  to  sympa- 
thize with  the  troubles  of  these  people  to  whom 
he  sends  his  letter.  He  knows  what  it  is  to  be 
in  trouble.  Indeed,  he  rejoices  in  tribulation, 
and  is  glad  to  be  distressed,  because  he  sees 
how  that  brings  him  closer  to  his  brethren. 

The  untroubled  life,  the  untried  life,  the  be- 
lieving life,  into  which  pain  has  not  come,  nor 
great  temptation,  nor  the  darkness  of  doubt,  has 
no  message  to  the  majority  of  men.  Even  Jesus 
must  be  tempted  like  as  we  are  in  order  to  help 
us  to  the  uttermost;  he  must  bear  our  sick- 
nesses and  carry  our  sorrows,  and  be  made  per- 
fect by  the  things  that  he  suffers,  so  that  he 
may  be  able  to  be  touched  with  the  feeling  of 
our  infirmities. 


276  THE  POWER   OF   PERSUASION. 

Find  that  light  in  the  midst  of  the  darkness. 
This  grief  of  yours,  this  bitter  experience,  even 
this  spiritual  failure,  is  all  a  means  of  ministry. 
True,  you  have  been  in  the  depths  of  doubt,  but 
you  are  the  better  able  to  lift  up  your  brother 
into  the  sight  of  the  sun.  True,  you  have 
sinned ;  your  cheeks  are  crimson  and  3^our  eyes 
are  downcast  at  the  memory  of  it ;  but  here  is 
your  opportunity :  you  can  go  with  fulness  of 
fellow-feeling  to  your  sinning  brother,  and  per- 
suade him  by  your  own  experience.  True,  you 
are  the  prisoner  of  the  Lord,  shut  up  within  the 
walls  of  a  contracted  environment  and  narrow 
opportunities,  with  little  education  and  less 
money,  altogether  commonplace,  you  think,  and 
foolish  and  incapable ;  but  so  you  are  just  on  a 
level  with  all  the  rest  of  us  commonplace  people, 
and  can  so  much  the  better  show  us  an  example 
that  we  can  hope  to  follow.  We  will  listen  to 
you,  for  you  are  one  of  us.  Thus  our  experi- 
ence, even  that  part  of  it  of  which  we  are 
ashamed,  is  but  our  preparation  for  effective 
service. 

Now  see  how  St.  Paul,  having  this  love  of 
his  brethren  in  his  heart,  and  this  sympathetic 
understanding  of  them  by  reason  of  the  experi- 
ences of  his  life,  see  how  he  addresses  them. 


THE  POWER   OF   PERSUASION.  2Tt 

He  reminds  them  of  their  vocation,  of  their 
high  calling,  and  begs  them  simply  to  be  worthy 
of  it. 

Not  a  word  here  about  their  sins.  They  had 
sins,  plenty  of  them.  They  were  most  imper- 
fect Christians,  those  early  converts.  And  Paul 
could  rebuke  them  sharply  enough  upon  occa- 
sion. But  here  he  sets  them  all  aside.  He 
holds  up  their  ideal,  tells  them  what  God  ex- 
pects of  them,  suggests  the  undeveloped  possi- 
bilities that  are  in  them.  He  helps  them  to  be 
good  by  taking  it  for  granted  that  they  want  to 
be  good,  and  that  they  can  be. 

It  is  remarkable  how  Jesus,  addressing  him- 
self for  the  most  part  to  people  who  never  went 
to  church,  who  professed  no  regard  for  religion, 
who  habitually  broke  the  commandments,  igno- 
rant, sinful,  outcasts  from  the  respectable  society 
of  their  time,  never  used  any  condescension  with 
them,  never  talked  down  to  them,  never  scolded 
them,  but  took  it  always  for  granted  that  they 
were  in  sympathy  with  him,  and  that  they  were 
ever  so  much  better  than  they  appeared  to  be. 
He  told  those  sunburned,  ragged  fishermen  on 
the  Capernaum  wharves,  and  those  sinful  women 
of  the  Capernaum  streets,  that  they  were  the 
sons  and  the  daughters  of  the  Most  High  God 


278  THE  POWER   OF   PERSUASION. 

And  they  believed  him.  And  then  they  began 
to  consider  whether  they  were  living  the  sort 
of  life  that  would  befit  the  nobility  of  heaven, 
the  family  of  God. 

If  we  are  to  help  men  as  Jesus  helped  them, 
as  Paul  helped  them,  we  must  begin  by  believ- 
ing in  them ;  then  they  will  begin  to  believe  in 
themselves.  We  must  recognize  the  men  and 
women  of  the  back  alleys  as  children  of  the 
eternal  Father,  called  by  him,  beloved  by  him. 
Unless  human  nature  has  greatly  changed  since 
Jesus  lived  here,  it  is  altogether  likely  that  a 
good  many  of  these  people  are  really  better 
Christians  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  nearer  to 
the  kingdom  of  heaven,  than  we  are.  It  was 
the  respectable  people,  such  as  us,  amongst 
whom  the  Master  found  no  welcome  when  he 
came.  It  will  not  do  to  go  on  missionary  jour- 
neys into  the  lanes  and  courts  as  if  we  alone 
cared  for  righteousness  and  truth,  bearing  the 
impudent  lantern  of  Diogenes.  We  must  go 
very  humbly,  looking  for  good,  and  not  doubt- 
ing that  we  will  find  it ;  as  fellow-servants,  as 
brethren  of  the  same  household. 

And  our  speech  must  be  not  so  much  of  sin  as 
of  vocation,  bringing  hope  and  encouragement 
and   the   blessed  sunlight   with    us.       Better- 


THE  POWEB  OF  PERSUASION.  279 

ment  comes  when  a  man  turns  his  face  in  ex- 
pectation towards  the  dawn.  Not  renunciation, 
but  resolution,  is  the  spiritual  secret.  Let  a 
man  once  come  to  realize  that  good  things  are 
expected  of  him,  and  that  he  has  that  in  him 
which  can  meet  the  expectation,  and  you  will 
not  need  to  reproach  him,  to  drive  him  with 
sharp  words  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  He 
will  go  in  gladly,  of  his  own  accord. 

You  have  a  high  calling,  walk  worthy  of  it. 
That  is  the  message  that  we  need.  God  is  our 
Father.  Beloved,  now  are  we  the  sons  of  God. 
Are  we  behaving  like  the  sons  of  God?  Our 
life  last  week,  was  it  a  noble  life,  a  worthy  life, 
considering  our  birth,  our  position,  and  our  pos- 
sibilities? Was  there  anything  divine  in  it? 
And  to-morrow,  as  we  take  it  up  again,  how  are 
we  intending  to  live  it?  What  have  we  in 
mind,  we  children  of  God,  to  do  to-morrow? 
What  sort  of  neighbors,  citizens,  housekeepers, 
tradespeople,  employers,  will  we  be ?  "With  all 
lowliness  and  meekness,  with  long-suffering, 
forbearing  one  another  in  love,  endeavoring  to 
keep  the  unity  of  the  spirit  in  the  bond  of 
peace,"  —  how  will  that  description  fit  our  life  ? 


THE  MAN  WITH  THE   MEASURING 
LINE. 


•*  I  lifted  up  mine  eyes  and  saw,  and  behold  a  man  with  a 
measuring  line  in  his  hand.  Then  said  I,  Whither  goest 
thou?  And  he  said,  To  measure  Jerusalem,  to  see  what  is  the 
breadth  thereof,  and  what  is  the  length  thereof."—  Zech.  ii.  1, 2. 


The  name  of  the  man  with  the  measuring 
line  is  Calculation.  He  goes  out  carrying  his 
surveyor's  chain,  to  make  his  accurate  estimate 
of  our  enthusiastic  plans. 

We  have  in  mind  a  fine  ideal,  an  inspiring 
task  worth  doing.  We  know  that  it  is  right, 
and  for  the  benefit  of  the  neighborhood,  and  in 
line  with  the  purposes  of  God.  But  it  is  hard 
to  do,  and  we  begin  to  consider  it  more  soberly. 
And  the  longer  we  think,  the  greater  seems  the 
difficulty.  We  send  out  the  man  with  the  meas- 
uring line,  and  he  comes  back  and  makes  his 
discouraging  report,  —  so  many  miles,  so  many 
years,  so  many  dollars,  so  many  mountain  ranges 
of  hindrance.     And  we  lose  heart. 

Evidently  there  must  be  calculation.  He 
who  would  build  a  tower  must  count  the  cost. 

280 


THE  MAJ^  WITH  THE  MEASURING  LINE.      281 

Prudence  carries  the  measuring  line.  But 
over-calculation  has  wrecked  more  hopes  than 
folly.  Small  is  the  company  of  those  who  have 
begun  and  not  been  able  to  finish  compared  with 
those  who  have  been  scared  back  at  the  start. 

"The  best,"  as  the  proverb  says,  "is  often 
the  enemy  of  the  good."  Anxiety  about  the 
morrow,  desire  to  see  the  whole  way  plain  and 
open  to  the  end  before  venturing  into  it,  the 
slow  perfecting  of  theories,  the  endeavor  to 
arrive  at  wisdom  without  undergoing  the  rough 
tuition  of  experience  —  these  hinder  progress. 
The  prophet  in  his  vision  looks  along  the  road 
down  which  the  man  has  gone,  and  suddenly 
there  hurries  after  him  a  messenger  of  God  to 
stop  him.  The  future  of  God's  people,  the  com- 
ing of  God's  kingdom,  depends  upon  the  dis- 
charge of  the  man  with  the  measuring  line. 

The  apostles  stand,  a  little  company,  upon  the 
threshold  of  their  mission.  "  Go  ye  into  all  the 
world,"  the  Master  says,  "  and  preach  the  gos- 
pel to  every  creature."  A  stupendous  charge  ! 
This  small  band  of  poor  men  is  to  convert  the 
world.  Listen  to  the  man  with  the  measuring 
line  !  The  world,  he  says,  is  wider  than  you 
think.  The  undertaking  is  rash,  impertinent, 
impossible.     Here,  at  the  beginning,  is  Jeru- 


:282      THE  MAN  WITH  THE  MEASUEING  LINE. 

salem,  crowded  with  zealous  adversaries,  men  of 
narrow  minds  and  deaf  ears,  who  refused  to  listen 
even  to  Christ  himself,  —  what  can  you  do  in 
Jerusalem?  And  outside  lies  the  empire  of 
great  pagan  Rome,  with  might  of  arms,  with 
pomp  and  pride  of  universal  rule,  wholly  given 
over  to  superstitions  and  scepticisms,  to  false 
faiths  and  no  faiths,  to  vices  and  idols,  attend- 
ing with  impenetrable  scorn  to  all  that  the 
most  wise  and  eloquent  of  you  can  say,  —  will 
you  convert  Rome  ? 

Evidently  the  argument  is  on  the  side  of  the 
man  with  the  measuring  line.  What  he  says  is 
plainly  true,  discouragingly  true ;  nevertheless, 
the  twelve  go  on  regardless.  Day  by  day,  with- 
out theory,  without  foreboding,  trusting  in  the 
help  of  God,  they  do  the  meanest,  humblest 
duty.  And  God  goes  on  beside  them.  And 
every  valley  is  exalted,  and  every  mountain 
and  hill  made  low,  and  the  way  runs  straight 
before  their  feet,  and  year  by  year  —  slowly, 
indeed,  but  without  retreat  or  pause  —  the 
kingdoms  of  the  world  become  the  kingdom 
of  the  Lord  and  of  his  Christ.  That  is  the 
blessed  victory  they  gain  who  undertake  great 
things  for  God,  knowing  well  the  difficulty 
of  the   task,   and   conscious   of   their   lack    of 


THE  MAN  WITH  THE  MEASURING  LINE.      283 

strength,  but,  like  the  climber,  looking  ever 
up,  not  daring  to  look  down,  holding  the  hand 
of  God. 

We  have  in  mind  to  build  up  for  ourselves 
a  new  character.  Immediately  the  man  with  the 
measuring  line  attacks  our  courage.  He  shows 
the  manifold  hardships  of  the  task,  the  weari- 
nesses of  the  way.  The  distance  between  our 
present  life  and  the  ideal  of  right  living  which 
is  set  for  us  in  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ  stretches 
out  into  telescopic  remoteness,  like  the  spaces 
which  lie  between  the  stars.  The  road  is  so 
hopelessly  long  and  endlessly  up-hill  that  it 
seems  hardly  worth  while  to  begin  the  journey. 
It  would  be  well,  indeed,  if  we  were  living 
closer  to  the  right  ideal  of  a  good  life :  we 
know  that.  But  there  seems  small  use  in 
trying. 

So  many  people  are  reluctant  to  begin  unless 
they  can  begin  at  the  end.  They  would  attain 
perfection  at  the  start.  They  would  commence 
music  with  Beethoven's  Ninth  Symphony,  and 
Greek  with  the  Dialogues  of  Plato.  If  the  way 
is  blocked  with  scales  and  exercises  and  conju- 
gations and  vocabularies  they  will  not  venture. 
They  will  not  climb  the  ladder  of  betterment 
unless  they  can  first  take  hold  of  the  top  round. 


284      THE  MAN  WITH  THE  MEASURING  LINE. 

They  would  be  glad  enough  to  live  a  certain 
sort  of  life  which  they  can  picture  to  them- 
selves, and  have  all  the  faith  of  St.  Paul,  and 
have  all  the  zeal  of -St.  Peter,  and  all  the  love 
of  St.  John ;  but  they  lose  heart  at  the  weary 
distance  of  the  way.  The  man  with  the  meas- 
uring line  shows  them  on  the  map  just  how 
many  mountainous  miles  it  is,  and  they  say,  "  I 
can  never  reach  it." 

Some  men  will  not  set  their  names  in  the  roll 
of  the  disciples  of  Jesus  until  they  can  give 
themselves  a  guaranty  that  they  will  never 
retreat  from  their  allegiance.  When  they  are 
absolutely  sure  that  they  will  never  swear  any 
more,  nor  drink  any  more,  nor  lie,  nor  steal, 
nor  do  despite  to  any  of  the  Ten  Command- 
ments, when  they  have  no  longer  any  doubt  but 
that  they  will  be  better  Christians  than  their 
neighbors  whom  they  have  busily  criticised, 
they  then  will  begin  to  think  of  "  uniting  with 
the  church."  When  they  can  somehow  be  prom- 
ised a  perfectly  smooth  road,  without  a  turn, 
without  a  chance  of  missing  the  way,  straight 
and  plain  into  the  celestial  city,  then  they  will 
set  out  upon  the  journey.  It  was  at  one  time 
the  custom  for  people  to  delay  baptism  until 
they  were  told  by  the  physician  that  they  had 
but  an  hour  or  two  to  live. 


THE  MAN  WITH  THE  MEASURING  LINE.      285 

But  the  way  to  make  progress,  and  to  arrive 
at  the  heights,  is  to  go  on,  a  step  at  a  time, 
dealing  with  obstacles  when  they  present  them- 
selves, and  not  before.  And  the  way  to  be 
able  to  read  Plato  with  one's  feet  on  the  fen- 
der is  first  to  master  the  grammar  and  the 
dictionary.  And  the  way  to  climb  a  ladder 
is  to  begin  with  the  lowest  round  and  climb 
up.  And  the  way  to  build  a  tower  is  to  put 
one  stone  upon  another,  and  to  keep  on  repeat- 
ing that  setting  of  stone  on  stone  until  the 
stones  become  a  wall.  And  the  way  to  build 
a  character  is  to  begin  with  one  good  deed, 
and  to  put  another  good  deed  upon  the  top  of 
it,  with  the  cement  of  a  good  thought  in  be- 
tween, and  to  continue  little  by  little,  patient, 
persistent,  with  a  good  hope  and  a  good  heart, 
until  the  good  deeds  become  a  habit,  and  the 
habit  stands  for  a  wall  in  the  holy  temple  of 
character. 

Thus,  too,  may  we  meet  the  larger  problems 
which  confront  us  as  a  nation. 

This  universal,  unending,  increasing  dissen- 
sion between  the  employer  and  the  workman, 
between  the  brain  that  plans  and  the  hand 
that  executes — will  it  ever  reach  a  fair  ad- 
justment?    The  man  with  the  measuring  line 


286      THE  MAN  WITH  THE  MEASURING  LINE. 

«ays  no.  He  assails  our  hopes  with  unanswer- 
able arguments.  He  calls  to  our  attention  the 
ignorance,  the  selfishness,  the  long  misunder- 
standing, the  vested  interests,  the  complicated 
bitternesses,  which  are  involved  in  the  dispute. 
He  assures  us  that  the  root  of  the  difficulty 
is  planted  in  the  heart  of  man,  set  deep  in 
human  nature,  and  that  it  will  grow  on  as 
long  as  the  race  lives.  Cain  and  Abel  began 
it  by  the  gate  of  Eden,  and  nothing  will  end 
it  but  the  arbitration  of  the  last  great  Day  of 
Judgment. 

Will  he  believe  that  who  believes  in  God? 
Not  for  a  moment !  Yes,  he  answers,  the  hin- 
drances are  evident  enough,  and  high  and  appar- 
ently endless.  No  man  can  as  yet  see  a  clear 
way  ahead.  Nevertheless,  God  is  on  the  side 
of  justice,  on  the  side  of  brotherhood,  on  the 
side  of  the  right.  And  that  side  will  win. 
The  pillar  of  cloud  and  fire  moves  on  over  the 
mountains  of  hindrance,  and  the  hosts  of  the 
living  God  will  follow.  There  will  be  peace 
and  the  fraternity  of  heaven  yet  in  this  dis- 
ordered battlefield  where  selfishness  and  the 
devil  lead  the  fight,  and  they  who  stand  under 
Christ's  banner  can  scarce  distinguish  friends 
from  foes. 


THE  MAN  WITH  THE  MEASURING  LINE.      287 

Tliis  perplexed  problem  of  Christian  unity 
which  forces  itself  more  and  more  upon  the 
attention  of  good  people  in  these  days  of  new 
discernment,  this  endeavor  to  bring  better 
Christian  spirit  into  the  Christian  church  — 
will  there  be  any  solution?  Will  any  of  the 
plans  amount  to  anything?  The  man  with  the 
measuring  line  goes  out  into  the  field  and 
comes  back  with  his  old  answer.  The  reunion 
of  Christendom,  he  says,  is  a  dream,  which  will 
never  be  realized  this  side  of  the  millennium. 
People  are  steeped  in  prejudice.  Their  eyes 
are  blinded  with  motes  and  beams  which  they 
have  inherited  from  their  ancestors.  They  are 
intellectually  incapable  of  fairness.  Generation 
after  generation  they  have  shut  their  eyes  to 
the  honesty  and  truth  of  those  who  differ  from 
them  until  now  they  cannot  see.  It  is  impos- 
sible that  they  should  look  upon  religion  from 
any  other  than  a  sectarian  point  of  view.  Each 
man  misapprehends  the  position  of  his  neighbor, 
and  delights  to  misapprehend  it.  He  would  be 
glad  to  be  convinced,  but  he  would  like  to  see 
the  man  who  can  convince  him. 

Partisanship,  bigotry,  narrowness,  self-con- 
ceit, orthodoxy  of  scribes,  conscience  of  Phari- 
sees, stand   cudgel  in  hand  beside   the   path. 


288      THE  MAN  WITH  THE  MEASURING  LINE. 

inviting  the  ideal  church  to  run  the  gantlet. 
And  we  are  told  that  if  we  care  much  for  our 
ideal  we  would  best  keep  it  carefully  out  of  the 
reach  of  these  heavy  weapons.  We  may  dream 
of  a  Christian  church  which  might  deserve  the 
name,  but  we  may  not  attempt  to  get  the  vision 
realized. 

Who  will  contradict  this  most  sensible  cau- 
tion ?  The  loyal  Protestant  maintains  that  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  is  the  synagogue  of 
Satan ;  the  loyal  Roman  Catholic  questions 
whether  even  the  Protestant  saints  can  possibly 
be  saved.  The  Unitarian  accounts  his  Pres- 
byterian brother  a  bigot ;  the  Presbyterian 
considers  the  Unitarian  a  pagan.  The  Episco- 
palian accuses  the  Baptist  of  being  slavishly 
obedient  to  the  mere  letter  of  the  Bible  ;  the 
Baptist  answers  that  the  Episcopal  Church  is 
abandoned  for  the  most  part  to  formalism  and 
worldliness  and  popish  mimicry.  And  behind 
all  stands  the  wise  devil,  smiling  his  satisfied 
smile,  perfectly  contented.  And  over  all  looks 
down  the  Lord  Christ,  praying  that  we  may  be 
one.  Who  can  see  light  in  this  bad  business  ? 
The  man  with  the  measuring  line  declares  that 
the  whole  future  of  this  evil  is  as  black  as  the 
bottom  of  the  accursed  cleft  of  Gehenna.     He 


THE  MAN  WITH  THE  MEASURING  LINE.      289 

maintains,  and  he  has  the  facts  to  prove  it,  that 
the  unity  of  Christian  people  is  beyond  the 
bounds  of  possibility. 

But  we  say  that  this  prophet  carries  his  sur- 
veyor's chain  for  the  master  of  the  Nether 
Pit.  The  Lord  Christ  did  not  pray  in  vain. 
Unchristian  prejudice  shall  not  be  eternal. 
Molehills  shall  not  forever  be  magnified  into 
volcanoes.  The  day  will  come  —  yes,  and  is 
now  approaching  —  when  every  man  who  loves 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  will  account  every  other 
man  who  loves  the  Lord  Jesus  as  his  Christian 
brother.  That  love  will  be  the  one  essential 
bond  of  unity.  All  the  differences  will  be  sub- 
ordinated to  it.  All  orthodoxy  will  be  me£is- 
ured  by  it.  Stop  the  man  with  the  measuring 
line  !  What  we  need  to  know  is  not  the  diffi- 
culty which  lies  beyond  in  the  dim  future,  prob- 
ably seen  in  exaggeration  through  the  mists  of 
the  distance;  show  us  the  opportunity  which 
meets  us  in  this  present.  On  ahead  are  cliffs 
and  chasms,  marshes  without  bottoms,  rivers 
without  bridges — never  mind.  When  we  come 
upon  them  we  may  consider  what  to  do.  Here 
now  is  a  sound  place  to  set  one  foot  before  the 
other.  Let  us  take  that  step.  Let  us,  our  own 
selves,  be  as  broad-minded,  inclusive,  brotherly, 


290      THE  MAN  WITH  THE  MEASTJBING  LUrHL 

and  Christian  as  we  know  how.  That  is  our 
part.  God  will  do  his  part.  The  man  with 
the  measuring  line  was  called  back  and  dis- 
charged. God  speed  the  prophecy  I  The  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  came  to  level  all  unrighteous 
walls  of  separation,  and  to  make  us  brethren 
in  word  and  deed  and  heart.  And  he  will  win. 
The  divisive  devil  shall  not  forever  have  the 
upper  hand. 

I  pray  that  the  time  may  come  when  all  un- 
christian barriers  may  lie  as  low  as  the  old  wall 
that  the  Romans  built  in  Britain.  The  grass 
grows  over  it.  The  plough  of  the  farmer  runs 
across  the  place.  The  avenues  of  travel  and  of 
traffic  traverse  it  with  even  wheel.  It  is  known 
no  more. 

Then  will  we  all  be  one  as  the  Lord  Jesus 
made  petition,  and  there  will  be  no  work  for  the 
man  with  the  measuring  line. 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.00  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


JUL    /    WW? 


23Hov'62BK 


JAN  2  3  |963 


LD  21-100m-7,'39  (402a) 


304132 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  UBRARY 


